City Council works to reduce 2026 levy, final budget to be set later this month

Since setting the preliminary levy in September, the Grand Marais City Council and administrative staff have continued to whittle down the 2026 budget and levy.

On Wednesday, Dec. 10, the city council held a public hearing to allow individuals to comment on the 2026 budget and levy. No one from the public spoke during the public hearing.

City Administrator Mike Roth provided an update to the city council on the budget’s status since the council approved a 4.97% preliminary levy earlier this fall.

Since September, Roth said, the city administrative staff has been able to incorporate the final revenue numbers from the Grand Marais Recreation Park and fine-tune other budget details.

The proposed levy amount is now at 2.99%.

Roth said one factor leading to the reduction in the proposed 2026 levy is revenue from the recreation park.

“The rec park continues to be an excellent source of revenue,” Roth said. The recreation park is projected to bring in $677,000 more in revenue than it spends in expenses in 2026, Roth said. The projected increase is due to the raising of rates for campground sites and an increase in rental fees for recreation park facilities, among other factors.

Other factors are that revenues in the clerk administration decreased, while revenues in the debt services department increased. “That’s the biggest change,” Roth said.

The city annually pays $1.18 million in debt, Roth said, some of which is for the new city hall building. Only a portion of the debt payments, a total of $332,658.82, will be included in the levy, with the remainder covered by other sources such as the municipal liquor store and public utilities revenue.

Roth said he expects the 2.99% proposed levy presented during the Dec. 10 meeting will be the final 2026 levy number.

“I think we hit the number. I think we made our goal pretty well; it’s right under 3%. That feels really good considering what’s going on with the economy and how difficult expenses are these days,” Roth said.

The city council will vote on the final 2026 budget and levy during the Dec. 22 meeting at 5 p.m.

Watch the Dec. 10 Grand Marais City Council meeting here.

Kalli Hawkins December 11, 2025