Mayor Kim Ecklund discusses cost increases that are driving a proposed 7.5% increase in city taxes in the 2026 budget.

City residents may see a 7.5% overall tax increase for 2026, though this number is significantly decreased from the amount it could have been.

Last year’s city budget almost gave residents an 8% tax increase before city council was able to reduce that amount significantly, but following that the city has been preparing for another tough budget for 2026, even approving an override to the 2% tax cap levy back in May to prepare. During Wednesday’s budget presentation, Mayor Kim Ecklund said the original amount when looking at the budget was over a 20% tax increase.

“I will tell you that the first budget was a 29% increase,” Ecklund said. “The first round of numbers was 29. We got it down to 24, got it down to 20, got it down through all of these reiterations between here and there, ending up where we’re at with a 7.5% tax increase.”

A complete story will be run in Friday’s edition of The Post-Journal.