St. Cloud Council Gets First Look At 2027 Budget Monday, With A Smaller Levy Increase Expected

(KNSI) – Mayor Jake Anderson presents the preliminary 2027 governmental funds budget and tax levy to the St. Cloud City Council Monday night.

It’s the first public accounting of what departments asked for, what was cut, and how much more property owners will be asked to pay.

Anderson told KNSI News earlier this month that a levy increase is coming, but not one on the scale of last December’s. The council unanimously approved a 4.49% increase for 2026, the city’s first in two decades, which landed alongside the voter-approved fire referendum.

City staff have discussed a preliminary 3.75% increase in work sessions, though that number is not final and could change before Monday.

Anderson has described pressure coming from two directions. Personnel accounts for 83% of the property tax budget, and cost-of-living adjustments raise that cost every year. At the same time, the city is working through a long backlog of equipment past its useful life.

About 53% of the city’s fleet is now beyond its 20-year life cycle, down from the upper 50s a year ago, with a target of 49% in the 2027 budget.

The mayor has pointed to a new 2025 snowblower, purchased to replace a 1988 machine, as an example of what the spending buys. He estimated it cut the time and cost of loading snow into a dump truck by 30% to 70% depending on conditions, freeing crews to move on faster and trimming overtime. St. Cloud is down to a single spare snowplow, and adding a second is a goal for next year. Anderson has acknowledged the equipment backlog will outlast his term and could take 10 to 15 years to clear.

He has also framed the decisions against a local poverty rate he put at 18%. “How do you ensure that the revenues are providing the services that you need to provide and aligning with what people need to expect while still being affordable for the folks that live here? And that’s a real challenge because everyone’s financial situation is different.”

One variable sits on the same agenda. The council also takes up a building permit fee package Monday for the third time, and staff estimate the amended version would generate roughly $800,000 in new annual revenue, enough to pull the levy increase down from 3.75% to about 3.18%. But staff are recommending the council delay the effective date to January 1st, 2027, and hold a fourth public hearing August 31st before adopting anything. That means the fee revenue may not be locked in when the budget numbers are presented.

The backdrop is a tax base that has stopped growing the way it did a few years ago. The total value of taxable property in St. Cloud rose just 1.41% in 2025, down from 9.82% in 2024 and 15.67% in 2023, according to the city’s most recent Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. City policy targets keeping levy increases in line with tax base growth, so a slower base leaves less room before the council has to choose between holding spending flat and exceeding its own target. Staff are projecting a partial rebound to 3.63% growth in 2026.

Anderson’s longer-term answer is to grow the tax base itself by adding commercial, industrial and residential property, spreading costs across more payers instead of raising the rate on those already here.

Monday’s presentation starts the formal clock. A public hearing follows August 31st, and the council must certify a preliminary maximum levy by September 30th. The truth in taxation hearing and final levy vote are set for early December. Because the preliminary maximum functions as a ceiling, December’s certified number can come in lower than what the council approves in September, but not higher.

For comparison, the council approved a $100.8 million governmental budget for 2026, along with a $67.5 million enterprise funds budget covering water, sewer, parking and garbage collection.

The meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. Monday, August 17th, at city hall.

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