MPS Approves $279 Million Levy as Tax Bills Rise

The Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education approved a property tax levy of about $279 million at its Truth in Taxation meeting on Dec. 10, 2024, a 12.6% increase over the prior year. The new revenue becomes available in the 2025-26 school year and lands on the school portion of property-tax bills across the city, including in Lowry Hill.

The Truth in Taxation hearing is the annual, legally required step at which a Minnesota taxing body sets its final levy in public after notifying property owners of the proposed figure.

A large share of the increase comes from the technology levy that Minneapolis voters approved on Nov. 5, 2024, which replaced an expiring roughly $18 million-a-year capital levy with a $38 million-a-year levy — an increase of about $20 million annually. Because voters authorized that measure directly, it is a cost residents chose, distinct from the portion the board sets on its own.

The double-digit jump arrived as the district warned of a continuing budget deficit for the following school year despite the larger levy. The rest of the increase reflects rising salaries, benefits, transportation and building costs outpacing state aid, which leaves local property taxes as the main lever a school board can pull.

Because the levy is pegged to property values, higher-value neighborhoods such as Lowry Hill contribute the most in raw dollars, which is part of why the levy debate is followed closely here even among residents without children in the schools.