Grand Marais approves preliminary 4.81% levy increase
The Grand Marais City Council voted to approve a preliminary property tax levy of $1,196,167, a 4.81% increase.
Mayor Tracy Benson made the motion to approve the preliminary levy. It passed 4-0. Council member Craig Schulte was absent.
The preliminary levy is not the city’s final levy, which will be set later this year. Instead, it establishes the maximum amount the city can collect through the levy. The council can approve a lower amount when it adopts the final levy.
“I think that it’s fairly common for local governments to have a fairly big increase,” City Administrator Mike Roth said during the council meeting. “Ours, at under 5%, is going to be significantly lower than most preliminary levy increases in governments in Minnesota this year.”
Roth told the council that several parts of the city’s budget remain unsettled.
A law enforcement contract with Cook County will not be negotiated until later this year, and the preliminary budget accounts for a potential increase in that contract. Revenues from the recreation park and liquor store also need to be finalized. Employee health insurance costs could come in lower than expected.
Benson said health insurance was the biggest consideration she saw.
“When we went through those department reports, we don’t see a lot of variance,” Benson said. “And one big one is the health insurance.”
“We’ll still spend some time talking to Chris and look at the liquor store fund. Utilities haven’t finished their budget conversations yet,” Roth told the city council. “There are ways that those conversations could affect this number still, but this number we can use as a preliminary and know that if that’s the number that we have to accept, that we’ll be able to operate as we intend to next year. And if you want us to keep working on finding ways to lower it, we’ll give you some options.”
Last year, the City Council approved a preliminary levy increase of 4.97% before lowering the final increase to 2.99%.
Josh Hinke September 18, 2026
