Minnetonka Budget
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Preparing Minnetonka’s city budget is an eight-month process that starts with the five-year capital improvements program and wraps up with adoption of the final budget and tax levy in December. To create the budget, the city council and staff use data to ensure the budget aligns with the city’s strategic priorities. The goal is to provide innovative, responsive and quality city services while maintaining our Aaa bond rating.
Page last updated: 16 Sep 2026, 07:34 AM
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Phone 952-939-8200 Email dnelson@minnetonkamn.gov
Disappointed (at best) in the proposal. With the increased costs for families the City seems tone deaf to the community needs. You must stop spending, cut to cover 2027 run rate costs and come in flat YOY.
Minnetonka is becoming increasingly unaffordable for middle class families. There is something seriously wrong with priorities when property taxes and insurance can cost more annually than the mortgage itself. For some Minnetonka homeowners, this is the reality.
As the city prepares its 2027 budget, I believe it needs to take a hard look at all spending, including staffing, compensation for high income employees, PTO, and employee benefits. Other cities have made difficult changes in these areas to control costs and limit property tax increases. Has Minnetonka done the same?
I believe city leadership should be held to the same standard as residents when it comes to controlling costs and making responsible financial decisions. I encourage the City Council to prioritize Minnetonka residents who fund this city and identify meaningful ways to control spending and property tax increases.
The YOY raise in city property taxes is on an unsustainable path. We moved here in 2017, less than a decade ago and our property taxes have increased 60% in that time whilst inflation has been 35% over that same period. Nominal wage growth has only been 41% and real wage growth is sitting at 7%. Why do you think your residents can keep absorbing these increases? You are taxing people out of their homes. The city raises taxes, the county raises taxes, the schools raise taxes, the state raises taxes and fees and the people are struggling. You have got to get a grip on the issues your residents are up against and stop making it worse. The city cut a single tree down across from my house and needed 12 different city workers (9 of whom were supervising) to remove it. It took 6 hours. Don't tell me you have nowhere to cut.
How/why do you think continually raising resident's property taxes by 2-3x the rate of inflation is justified or sustainable? Do you simply not want people on fixed incomes to live in Minnetonka?
Looking at future budget projections, this trend continues well into the future.