After a few harsh words, city OKs 5.8% tax levy increase

The Eden Prairie City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a 5.8% increase in the property tax levy, which council members said is necessary to maintain city services and fund initiatives such as hiring additional firefighters to improve response times.

However, two residents at the public hearing voiced sharp criticism of the tax levy increase, calling it part of an unsustainable upward trend in taxation. 

Tuesday’s action concluded a series of 13 budget meetings held by the council over the past two years, including one in September in which they tentatively chose the 5.8% increase over a 4.5% increase that did not include about $440,000 extra for more firefighters.

The city is also scheduled to begin an Eden Prairie City Center remodeling project next year that will cost up to $26.5 million to accommodate a police department that has doubled in staff since 1993, when city hall was first occupied.

The preliminary 2025 city property-tax levy set Tuesday is $47.4 million for an overall city budget of $62.8 million, with fees from licenses, building permits and programs (including Eden Prairie Community Center memberships) helping to pay for expenditures not covered by property taxes.

A nearly $2.5 million increase in general-fund expenditures is primarily driven by increased wages and benefits for city employees, including the 238 employees who are full-time. Wages and benefits represent about 69 percent of the entire general fund budget.

The two areas of the general fund budget that require the most money are police and parks/recreation. For each dollar spent by the city, 34 cents goes to police, and 27 cents goes to parks and recreation.

With the budget and tax levy approved Tuesday, a median-value Eden Prairie home of $543,700 will see the city portion of its property-tax bill increase to $1,716 for 2025. That’s 8 percent or $127 over this year’s numbers, city staff estimated.

The city also provided an estimate of the total tax bill for that home, with projected tax levies for Hennepin County, Eden Prairie Schools and other tax jurisdictions added. The city said a $543,700 home would see a total tax bill of $6,587, up $443 or 7.2 percent.

Homeowners may experience a wide range of variation on these tax estimates, since half of Eden Prairie’s homes are valued at less than $543,700 and half are valued at more. Other factors include differing changes in home value, where a home falls in property class rates set by the state, and homestead tax exclusions.

The city is responsible for about one-fourth of the total property tax bill for an Eden Prairie home. The schools are responsible for slightly more than one-third and the county slightly less than one-third, according to city staff.

City Manager Rick Getschow noted that each budget process is two years long and starts with a quality-of-life survey of residents to get a “statistically significant gauge” of what residents expect in city services and whether the city is on the right path.

“People want to see high-quality services in this particular community,” he said. “They expect that. And they want it to be reasonably priced.”

Council members said the 2025 budget delivers on those resident “wants.”

“Overall, I think we are doing a good job,” said Council Member P.G. Narayanan.

“Ninety-two percent of all Eden Prairie residents are really happy with the services we’re providing,” said Mayor Ron Case, citing survey results. He said he felt the council was in sync with residents’ wishes on city service levels.

Getschow said Eden Prairie doesn’t set its tax levy by comparing EP to other communities, but he noted that the 5.8% increase is the second-lowest among 15 cities he listed for the sake of comparison, including neighbors Chanhassen, Minnetonka, Bloomington and Edina. Plymouth’s 2025 tax levy is the only one increasing less than Eden Prairie’s, he said.

Residents voice concerns

John Miller, one of the residents, criticized the council’s decision, calling for a reversal of tax growth and warning of consequences if the council stayed the course.

“If you reject the better path and continue the way you’re going, then unfortunately, I think you need to prepare for insurrection,” Miller said. “Mr. Mayor, I don’t think you want to look out your window and see an angry mob with their pitchforks and torches, kind of a scene from a Monty Python skit, and people yelling, ‘Hang Ron Case.’ I don’t think anyone wants that.”

Another resident, Steve Wagner, also spoke to the council, echoing Miller’s reference to violence. Wagner stated that his personal property taxes had risen 10% this year, with a property value increase of 3%.

Describing himself as a fixed-income senior citizen who receives a 2.5% cost-of-living allowance increase from Social Security, Wagner said, other than parks and recreation, “I don’t think we’ve got our money’s worth” from city programs and departments. He added, “You’re going to force people like me out of the community. I’ve been here for 43 years.”

Officials criticized the language used by residents during the hearing.

“I don’t appreciate some of the comments I heard today,” said Narayanan. “I think it’s inappropriate for Eden Prairie. I think it’s inappropriate for any city.”

“We live, obviously, in an incredibly polarized environment,” Case said. “In the United States of America, after Jan. 6, 2021, it’s become fairly normalized to be violent. I have to say, I do not appreciate the ‘Ron Case deserves to be hung’ comment. I think it’s incredibly inappropriate. We are citizen residents like you. We see you in the grocery store, we attend churches. We are you, who chose, for not very much money, to do some really hard work and put in the due diligence.”

Case said the city’s budget reflects what the council believes residents want, with 88% of the proposed budget increase allocated to wages and benefits, including a 3% wage increase planned for 2025.

“We can do a lot less for the people of Eden Prairie,” Case said. “We can plow roads less often. We can not maintain our parks. We can buy less park land. We can sell park land. We can cut Community Center hours. We can do a lot that removes the very quality of life that people love about Eden Prairie.” In regard to the city budget, Case said, “I think we’re being incredibly responsible and responsive to our residents.”