Imagine your tax dollars divided up and placed in buckets.

City, county, school and federal taxes go into separate buckets, which change in size each year based on how much is owed. 

Sometimes the changes cancel each other out, said Cory Kampf, past president of the Minnesota Government Finance Officers Association. “As each one shifts and moves, we may be paying the same amount,” he said. “It’s just which bucket you’re paying.” 

This year, Minnesota taxpayers have some bigger buckets to fill. Preliminary property tax levies for cities and counties rose by an average of more than 8% across the state.

No single factor is causing these upticks, but city and county groups have pointed to cost shifts as a key contributor. The premise is that local governments had to increase levies to account for added costs heaped on them by state or federal policies.

That cost shifts are happening isn’t in dispute. Where it gets complicated is figuring out which level of government is most responsible for it in cities or counties. 

Mayors point to the state

In a letter published in December, a group of mayors pinned cost shifts on state policies. Crosslake Mayor Jackson Purfeerst led the campaign, which gathered 241 signatures as of Jan. 11.

Purfeerst, who didn’t respond to messages requesting an interview, announced the letter in a video posted on Facebook. Seated in front of an American flag and the former Minnesota flag, he said levy increases stemmed directly from state policies, unfunded mandates and cost shifts.

“Fraud, unchecked spending and inconsistent fiscal management in St. Paul have trickled down to our cities, reducing our capacity to plan responsibly, maintain infrastructure, hire and retain employees and sustain core service without overburdening taxpayers,” he said. 

The letter, mostly signed by Greater Minnesotan mayors plus mayors in Twin Cities suburbs, doesn’t delve into specifics about mandates. In a later post, Purfeerst singled out the state’s new Paid Family Medical Leave program, writing that it added $10,390 to Crosslake’s levy. 

“This is an unfunded mandate that diverts tax dollars into a program that can’t pay for itself and lacks parameters!” he posted.

The letter, which more mayors are invited to sign by the end of January, decries how the state made a $18 billion budget surplus “disappear” and now faces a projected $2.9 billion-$3 billion deficit in the 2028-2029 biennium. 

The letter’s surplus section resonated with Shane Sheets, leading him to add his signature as Green Isle’s mayor. His city, located in Sibley County about an hour’s drive southwest of Minneapolis, has a largely residential tax base. 

The cost of living for families is rising, he said, and it felt like the state’s bountiful surplus didn’t reach his city and others.

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“We just feel like we’re not getting bang for our buck,” he said. “We know taxes are always going to be there. There are two things that are certain in life: death and taxes. But are we getting the service?” 

Sheets feels his city has straightforward enough, tangible asks to the state. Green Isle has been requesting a crosswalk near a charter school across Highway 25 and Highway 5, where a woman got killed by a semi in July while she was crossing the street.

The city also wants sidewalk repairs along state highways. The sidewalks are in disrepair, causing slips and falls, Sheets said. 

“It is concerning and we’ve expressed that endlessly,” he said. “You can’t even get a scooter or wheelchair going down there adequately, so that’s why I filed (Americans with Disabilities Act) complaints.” 

The letter’s focus was on state policies. Sheets wants his city’s needs to be factored into state budgeting, while also acknowledging that other levels of government are influencing local costs.

“If the federal government doesn’t fund the state, if the state doesn’t fund the county and if the county doesn’t have it, then it falls on the city,” he said. “So it will impact us and we simply as a rural community can’t keep going with the tax increases that are projected.” 

‘The Big Shift’ from federal to county

Many factors influence county and city costs, said Kampf, who worked as a city finance director before his current role serving as chief financial officer for Anoka County. 

Generally, though, city budgets are more sensitive to state policies. Counties, on the other hand, are more heavily influenced by federal policies.

After Republicans in Congress passed President Donald Trump’s  One Big Beautiful Bill passed last year, the National Association of Counties released a report titled “The Big Shift” that quantified how large the federal legislation’s impact would be on other levels of government. The legislation will shift costs approaching $1 trillion over a decade from federal to subnational governments, according to the report.

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Minnesota counties have to absorb the cost shift more deeply than others because they’re tasked with administering federal SNAP and Medicaid programs. By cutting funding and adding more administrative burdens, the bill puts the onus on the state and counties to pick up the slack.

In Anoka County, the state’s fourth biggest in population, about 50% of the budget goes to social services. For SNAP alone, the cost shift from federal to county adds up to about $1.5 million per year, Kampf said. The Anoka County Board designated $3 million in its budget for contingencies this year, in anticipation of heightened administrative costs for SNAP and Medicaid. 

Anoka County’s budget included a 9.4% tax levy increase. Federal and state cost shifts were accounted for in the decision, Kampf said. 

“Some of these initial federal (cost shifts) are probably having more of an impact, but there are other factors going on,” Kampf said.

Another factor is the increased cost to maintain a workforce. Public safety is a priority in the county, Kampf said, so it invests in the sheriff’s department and jail staff.

Counties are also seeing an increased need for services, Kampf said.

“People are hurting a little bit and we’re seeing more caseloads, more demand for services,” he said. “Our food shelves in the county are running into more of that and they asked for more aid.”

Then there are non-mandated services. Residents like open libraries and maintained parks. Some cities and counties in Greater Minnesota cut back on these services to keep costs down.

Trump’s tariffs are yet another factor causing strain on local governments. Tariffs hit local governments in the form of higher prices on construction projects and reduced household spending by residents, according to an analysis by the national Government Finance Officers Association.

Combining all of these factors, plus a hyper focus on fraud in Minnesota, residents were clearly more vocal and engaged during the county levy process in late 2025, Kampf said. 

“I do think constituents are more aware of what they’re paying in taxes, because everything is so front and center and the rhetoric coming out of the federal government is stirring up that passion,” he said.

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