Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board supports an increased tax levy to improve services and park care
MINNEAPOLIS — During a meeting on Wednesday, commissioners with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board backed a proposed tax levy of about 10% to help maintain current park services and to care for park assets.
If passed, the levy increase for the MPRB will result in a 1.76% increase in overall city property taxes which would amount to approximately $33 in annual increase in property taxes. That would be less than $3 per month for owners of a median $323,000 value home.
According to the parks board, currently, of every dollar Minneapolis homeowner's pay in property taxes, 7.8 cents goes towards maintaining 7,059 acres of MPRB land and park systems, maintain and protect urban forests — as well as park and boulevard trees — and supports over 32 million park visits.
"This Board of Commissioner's priority is to take care of the park assets we have and to continue providing the park services that Minneapolis residents use and that have made us one of the top park systems in the nation," explained parks board President Meg Forney.
The proposed tax levy aims at improving park infrastructure in four different aspects. The first would be to maintain current service levels which includes a more than $3 million provision for wage and fringe adjustments as well as an additional $727,568 to combat inflation.
The second aims to invest more than half a million dollars in system equity that is needed to service skateparks and Graco park, which hopes to open later this year.
The third requires $150,000 to reduce barriers to program participation by providing city-wide need-based free and reduced cost youth programing.
And finally, the last goal of the tax levy is to support park care and asset investment. Funding for this area of the tax levy will ultimately aim to maximize existing funding for park repair, rehabilitation and capital. The parks board also say this funding will go towards providing attention to under-funded regional park systems where state funding has not met its statutory requirements.
"We provide parks and facilities to enrich the lives of every Minneapolis resident. With more than 32 million visits to the park system each year, we need to maintain current service levels and invest in how we track, assess and care for park assets within almost 200 parks located throughout the city," said parks board Superintendent Al Bangoura.
If approved by the Board of Estimate and Taxation, Bangoura will present a balanced 2025 recommended budget based on a 10.07% property levy increase in October.