Item 5H. 2026 General Fund Budget Discussion
Superintendent's Recommendation:
NO ACTION REQUIRED; THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Prepared By: Howard D. Koolick, Chief Financial Officer and Jason McGrew-King, Intergovernmental Relations and Communications Supervisor
Background:
The Superintendent has led senior management through the budget process and is ready to recommend the 2026 General Fund budget to the Board of Commissioners. The 2026 Recommended General Fund budget totals $55,413,013; an increase of $2,156,364 over the 2025 budget. The following table shows the major revenue increases for 2026:
These revenue increases roughly follow the percentage breakdown of the existing budget with approximately 76% of revenue coming from property taxes and 24% from other sources. The recommended revenue increases are in line with the budget goal to use non-tax revenues to maintain a low annual property tax increase.
A part of the budget process was a review of proposed property tax increases for communities in suburban Hennepin County. Staff was able to gather a sampling of preliminary tax increases for 24 cities. The average percentage increase for these cities was 8.87% while the range was 4.4% to 15.87%. The following is an abbreviated listing of cities from each District.
- City of Bloomington - 9.44%
- City of Brooklyn Park - 8.00%
- City of Eden Prairie - 5.6%
- City of Edina - 11.03%
- City of Maple Grove - 6.35%
- City of Minnetonka - 7.935%
- City of Minnetrista - 9.1%
- City of Plymouth - 7.3%
- City of Robbinsdale - 8.00%
- City of St. Louis Park - 8.02%
Expenditure increases were prioritized based on maintaining existing service levels, providing competitive wages and benefits to employees, meeting contractual obligations, and providing flexibility to respond to changing conditions and needs. The following table shows the recommended expenditure increases:
The 2026 General Fund Budget Book, which will be provided to the Board for the November Board meeting, will contain a narrative description of the Park District, its goals for 2026 and budget changes that will help reach those goals. It will also contain a variety of tables showing breakdowns of the above amounts by department and type of revenue/expense. An initial draft of the narrative portion and several of the tables is attached for your review and comment.
Relationship of Board Action to the Budget
The Park District's budget process is a six to eight month process that includes a number of steps and board actions to complete. The following graphic shows how this board action fits into the budget process and where the District is in the process. The blue information on the timeline shows where we are in the budget process.
Relationship to the System Plan:
The Request for Action supports the following goal(s) of the System Plan:
Goal 2: Parks Matter
Goal 3: Lead by Example
by ensuring the Park District's finances are property planned and managed.
Attachments:
