The City of Crookston held its Truth in Taxation hearing on Monday evening in the City Hall Council chambers.
The meeting began with Interim City Administrator Darin Selzler presenting a PowerPoint budget overview, which explained where levy dollars are allocated in the city budget and where all the city’s funding originates. Most of the budget is derived from two sources: 43 percent from Local Government Aid (funded by the state) and 38 percent from the tax levy (collected from Crookston property owners). “Truth in Taxation is required by Minnesota statute to present all the revenues and expenditures of the upcoming budget, and obviously provide a forum for comment by the public or anyone else. So that’s what we did tonight,” said Selzler. “We went through all the expenditures and revenues. We broke those down, what it would cost or what it would take if a levy increase to balance the 2026 budget. We provided those numbers and presented them.” The numbers and the entire Power Point presentation is at the bottom of the story.
The Crookston City Council set the preliminary levy at an eight percent increase, and now it can only be raised by eight percent or less. Selzler provided a comparison of area cities and their proposed tax levies, noting that Thief River Falls has the highest rate in northwest Minnesota at 21.8 percent, while East Grand Forks is at 12 percent. Fosston also has a proposed levy of eight percent, the same as Crookston. The statewide average for cities’ proposed levy increases is 8.7 percent, and the average proposed levy for Minnesota counties is 8.1 percent.
Selzler provided a review of the effects of increases by four, five, and eight percent on $150,000 and $250,000 homes. “We would need approximately a five percent increase to balance our budget,” said Selzler. “So I would suspect that the levy would be somewhere in between there.”
Nobody from the public commented or asked questions at the meeting.
The Crookston City Council will have a special meeting on Monday, December 29 at 5:30 p.m. to set and approve the levy for 2026.