Big Property Tax Increase Looms for Dakota County

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Dakota County is faced with a significant property tax increase for 2027—ranging from 14-24%, with the 14% increase still including major cuts to services. As a result, they’re hosting an open house to keep residents informed.

• When: The Budget and Property Tax Open House is Thursday, Aug. 6 from 5-6:30 p.m.
• Where: The Dakota County Community Development Agency in Eagan (1228 Town Centre Drive).
• What: Learn how rising costs, new state and federal cost shifts, and other factors are creating new challenges for 2027 budget planning. Residents will be able to ask questions about their property taxes.
• More: The county has two more open houses planned, one on Thursday, Sept. 10 in Apple Valley and one on Tuesday, Dec. 1 in Hastings.

​What’s the Issue?

According to a mid-July board presentation, the biggest factors increasing costs are higher operating costs due to inflation, state and federal mandates, and growing demand for county services. County staff identified $44.8 million in needs for a property tax levy that amounts to a 24.3% increase. That’s more than double last year’s 9.9% increase.

Despite the rising taxes, Dakota County has had the lowest tax rate and levy per capita in the seven-county metro area.

County staff presented the county commissioners with three options for levy increases:

• 23.9%: Increase fees and cuts with minimal consequences. $200 increase for median home’s property taxes. (The percentage increase for the top increase ranged from 23.9%-24.3%, depending on how the data was presented.)
• 18.9%: Part-time staff cut across all divisions, but minimal impact to full-time workers. $154 increase for median home’s property taxes.
• 13.9%: Cutting about 92 full-time employees and making cuts to the “bones and structure of the organization.” $111 increase for median home’s property taxes.

The county manager recommended the 18.9% path, but also outlined the potential cuts at the 13.9% path. Those cuts would include reduced staff, increased fees, service delays, and longer waits. Here are a few specifics, though the cuts would be spread across all county departments:

• Libraries: Wentworth, Burnhaven, Galaxie, and Wescott Libraries would close on Sundays and close at 5 p.m. on Thursdays, increased wait times and decreased selection for library materials.
• Parks: Visitor services hours at Lebanon Hills Regional Park reduced by 40%, eliminate six free annual park events, 750 hours less park programming, delayed Greenway development, and more.
• Social services: Reduced ability to respond to public health issues, more than 35 positions cut in social services leading to gaps and slow response time for disability, homeless, mental health, crisis response (including after-hours child protection response), and other services. A number of social services programs would end, including truancy program, family dependency treatment court, and shelter and youth drop-in services.

Some of these cuts would trickle down to cities to pick up the cost (e.g., embedded social workers, recycling programs, etc.).

Not final: It’s worth noting this is the current outlook at the beginning of the budgeting process and nothing is final. An earlier budget forecast in May included a 29.9% levy increase that’s no longer on the table. County staff and commissioners have more work to do and more decisions to make.

Timeline: The county commissioners have to approve a maximum levy by Sept. 22. That number will be mailed to residents in November. That number can be lowered but not increased, and the commissioners will have to approve a final number on Dec. 15.

Aug. 5, 2026 Update: New Numbers

As we noted, these things are not final and will continue to be refined. Dakota County commissioners met yesterday in an work session and County Manager Heidi Welsch shared refined levy numbers and a new recommendation (see the full presentation document; nice to see a little levity in budget conversations).

Welsch noted commissioners have consensus on fixing structural deficits and rebuilding their reserves. A majority of commissioners seem to think 18.9% is too high and 13.9% is too low. With that, Welsch presented three new scenarios: 21.2%, 18.7%, and 16.3%:

Helpful clarification: County Commissioner Joe Atkins notes that a 15% increase in the Dakota County property tax levy does not translate to a 15% increase in your property taxes because the county is just one part of your total property tax bill. “A 15% increase in the County portion generally translates into less than a 3% increase in your overall property tax bill,” Atkins wrote on Facebook. In short: Property tax is complicated (a few years ago we offered a property tax explainer that might help a bit).

Aug. 6, 2026 Update: Packed Open House

A packed room turned out for the property tax open house as county staff and elected officials shared information and answered questions from residents. While the room remained packed for the first half, it started to thin during the second half and eventually petered out toward the end. A large group of AFSCME workers also protested potential layoffs outside the building.

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