St. Cloud Mayor Anderson’s 2027 Budget Heads To Public Hearing Monday Night

(KNSI) – St. Cloud residents get their say on next year’s city budget Monday night, and on a tax increase that would add about $146 to the annual bill on a median-valued home.

The city council takes public comment on Mayor Jake Anderson’s preliminary 2027 budget and levy at a hearing August 31st. It’s the public’s chance to tell the council how it feels before the council has to certify a preliminary maximum levy by September 30th. That number is a ceiling. The final levy, set in early December after the truth in taxation hearing, can come in lower, but not higher.

The city puts the median home in St. Cloud at $252,700.

The proposed increase to the tax rate is 6.44%, but that figure is really two things. The operating side of the budget accounts for 3.75%. The rest, 2.69%, comes from the voter-approved fire referendum, which sits on the city’s debt levy and adds $2 million in debt for 2027.

Even so, the dollar hit is smaller than last year’s. Homeowners at the median saw a $330 increase for pay 2026, 70% of it fire. For pay 2027 it’s $146, with 41% of it fire. The bulk of the referendum’s cost landed on the first year’s bills.

Departments asked for roughly $10 million in new spending. Anderson’s proposal funds about $692,000 of it, saying no to new vehicles, first responder drones, tree-trimming equipment and 15 of the 17 full-time positions requested. He told KNSI News the items are legitimate needs the city can’t afford right now.

Two of the 17 positions do make the cut, including a building and facilities director, a job Anderson says will centralize contracts across the city’s aging buildings and pay for part of itself. A temporary 10% cut to citywide supplies and services, first imposed in 2025, stays in place for a third year.

Anderson said holding the levy flat would mean cutting staff, buying no new plows or snow blowers, and slower service from police, streets and fire. He said cutting positions just shifts the work onto the employees who remain, which makes more of them leave.

Personnel accounts for 83% of the property tax budget, and cost-of-living raises push that up every year. About 53% of the city’s fleet is past its 20-year life cycle, down from the upper 50s a year ago.

The full proposal is posted on the city’s website.

Annual increase by estimated market value:

$100,000 home: $40
$200,000 home: $110
$252,700 home (median): $146
$300,000 home: $182
$400,000 home: $252
$500,000 home: $320

___