The Blaine City Council held its Truth in Taxation hearing to present and gather public feedback on a proposed 9.9% increase to the city’s overall levy in 2026.
Several council members expressed frustration with ongoing levy growth, even as the increase is lower than last year’s — a goal the council had set for 2026.
The city’s 2026 budget and tax levy will be considered for adoption Dec. 15.
Finance Director Jason Zimmerman outlined the annual property tax timeline, beginning each January when property values are established for the following year’s taxes. Value notices are mailed in February, and current-year property tax statements are mailed in March. First-half taxes are due in May, proposed levies are set in September, and proposed tax statements are mailed in November. Final tax levies must be certified to the county auditor within five days of Dec. 20.
For 2026, Blaine has 15 taxing areas within Anoka County. These include the Rice Creek and Coon Creek watershed districts, Anoka-Hennepin, Spring Lake Park, Centennial and Mounds View school districts.
Zimmerman said Blaine’s taxing authority determines its levy amount. The Minnesota Legislature sets property classes and class rates, establishes state aid levels, levies a state business tax and sets levy limits. The county assessor determines market value and assigns property classifications.
Current assessment values from the county are preliminary, Zimmerman said, and will change until final tax statements are issued. State statute requires all real property to be assessed at market value — defined as the most likely selling price as of the Jan. 2, 2026, assessment date.
Estimated market values for the 2025 assessment are based on real estate trends in Anoka and Ramsey counties from Oct. 1, 2023, through Sept. 30, 2024. These values are used to calculate taxes payable in 2026.
Zimmerman noted a change to the low-income class rate, now defined as Class 4d(1), shifting from a two-tiered system to a single tier at 0.25%. The change is effective for taxes payable in 2025 and later. The former first tier carried a 0.75% rate.
Homestead market value exclusion is now equal to 40% of the first $95,000 in value, minus 9% of the amount between $95,000 and $517,200. There is no exclusion for homesteads valued at $517,200 or more.
Zimmerman said 2023 legislation reducing the class rate for 4d(1) low-income apartment properties results in taxes shifting onto other property types.
Total estimated market value in Blaine increased 4.38% from 2024/25 to 2025/26, and estimated tax capacity is also up roughly 4.4%. Blaine accounts for more than 20% of Anoka County’s estimated market value while covering about 8% of the county’s land mass.
Zimmerman reported the median value of a Blaine home increased 3.4% for 2026 to $346,000, up from $334,700.
Zimmerman said Blaine updated its strategic priorities in 2023. Those six priorities — financial stability, economic development, infrastructure management, organizational health, collaboration and engagement, and Highway 65 improvements — guide the city’s budget.
The council’s direction for 2026 was to reduce the tax levy increase from the 2025 level.
Zimmerman said Blaine retains a AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor’s, reflecting the city’s “robust management policies and practices, revenue raising flexibility and continued growth in the local economy” despite high debt. Blaine plans to prefund capital equipment through utility rate and operating levy increases. [Paraphrase OK]
Budget highlights for 2026 include investing in city-operated policing, strengthening fire and emergency services, and improving facilities, equipment, roads, trails, open spaces and parks. Other priorities include IT modernization, forestry work to address emerald ash borer impacts, election administration resources, compliance with the state’s new paid family medical leave law, and beginning work on the Metropolitan Council’s 2050 Comprehensive Plan.
Zimmerman said the compounded annual rate of change from 2016 to 2025 is 9.3%. The proposed capital equipment levy would prefund vehicle and equipment replacement instead of relying on debt. The debt levy is increasing due to ongoing infrastructure investment.
The proposed 2026 levy totals $54.23 million — a 9.9% increase.
Zimmerman said the levy was not increasing at the rate of the past two years and includes adequate funding for operational needs. It avoids creating future budget deficits following midyear reduction efforts and continues prefunding capital needs. It also includes IT investments and no new staffing.
Of the overall levy increase, 53% supports personnel, 20% capital, 17% operations, 5% the SBM Fire Department and 4% debt. About 80% of city operations are expected to be funded by the 2026 levy.
Blaine has the second-lowest 2025 city tax for a median-value home among comparable cities at $1,217, Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman presented examples illustrating how overlapping school and special taxing districts affect total taxes on a median-value home.
He also demonstrated a sample 2026 tax bill calculation for a $346,000 home. After subtracting $15,410 for homestead exclusion, the taxable value would be $330,590. Applying the class tax rate yields a city property tax of $1,330. A monthly breakdown showed $46.43 going to public safety, $24.93 to public works and recreation, $22.49 to capital and debt, $8.86 to finance and IT, and $8.09 to general government.
Blaine’s 9.92% levy increase is above the comparable-city average of 8.72%, though Blaine’s population growth of 5,711 exceeds the average of 1,688. Despite this, Zimmerman said Blaine still has the second-lowest city tax for a median household in the comparison group.
Proposed 2026 residential tax notices show a median home value increase of 3.4%. Notices also list proposed taxes by jurisdiction and meeting schedules.
Council Member Jess Robertson said not every council member agreed with every part of the 2026 budget.
“I have turned over every rock, as have my colleagues, and in some way shape or form we have put demands on the staff as far as not hiring more people,” Robertson said. “We can’t control that paid family medical leave, I think the cost increase for benefits toward the city is $1.7 million. That’s the state of Minnesota, and that falls on you, the taxpayers.”
Robertson said she appreciated Zimmerman and his team, even though they disagreed often, and said the council was focused on reducing debt.
“We have bonds right now on our tax rolls from 2013,” she said. “We are paying loans with interest that go all the way back to 2013. So a lot of the increase that you saw on last year’s taxes was the council putting its foot down and saying, ‘we’re done.’”
She said Blaine needed to be “very aggressive” in reducing debt.
Council Member Chris Massoglia said the city must re-evaluate its approach to budgeting.
“At the end of the day, it’s really on this council to coalesce around what services we’re gonna offer, what services we’re gonna cut,” Massoglia said. “… We are matching our tax income to the level of expenses we want to have. Instead of saying, hey, what can we get our expenses down to.”
Massoglia said that unless the council agrees on which nonessential services to cut, levy increases will continue.
“If you look at a ten year graph, the city of Blaine’s tax levy has just skyrocketed,” he said. “I mean, yeah, it’s a 9.9% percent increase compounded every year, but if you go back ten years, it’s a 145% increase in ten years.”
He said the council must ultimately make decisions about services and staffing.
Council Member Tom Newland said the proposed city levy increase does not mean property taxes will rise by the same amount.
“Sometimes it’s far more than that, this time it’s far less than that,” Newland said.
He said the council works on the budget through most of the year, and costs continue to rise. Blaine, he said, is one of the few comparable cities without additional revenue streams.
“We don’t accept local government aid, we don’t qualify for it,” he said. “We don’t have a municipal liquor store, we don’t derive revenue from that. There’s franchise fees that other cities around us do, we’re the only one that does not put on fees for the cable companies to come in and rip up our front lawns and put in new underground broadband.”
Newland said the city is close to implementing measures that would ease the burden on residential property taxes.
“We owe it to ourselves to do that, we owe it to you to do that,” he said. “And we are going to do that.”
Mayor Tim Sanders said the council is prioritizing commercial development to broaden the tax base and supported efforts to create new revenue sources.
“The unfunded mandates from the state are real,” Sanders said. “It’s probably a couple of points on the property tax levy. You look at the paid family medical leave act, the sick time, those things impact the city heavily.”