Detroit Lakes Adopts 2022 Budget and Tax Levy Increase of More than 8%

DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – The City of Detroit Lakes adopted their 2022 budget and Tax Levy, Tuesday.

The amount of the new tax levy increase was set at 8.22%, when factored with an additional HRA levy the total is raised to 10.19%

The City says there are several benefits to the Levy. First, the addition of a full-time parks employee at a cost of $75,000, who is responsible for making sure local parks are taken care of. “After a number of years we’ve hired an additional park employee, we’ve been running a little short and we have a lot of facilities we take care of including the city beach and recreational facilities and we feel they’re very important to our quality of life,” Mayor Matt Brenk said in an interview with KDLM in September.

A new affordable housing program will give the Housing & Redevelopment Authority (HRA) $120,000 used to implement a housing repair program. The goal will be to repair, save and preserve affordable housing in Detroit Lakes.

The city also plans to offset a possible future drop in Local Government Aid (LGA) funding from the State at the tune of $97,000. An LGA drop was frozen for 2022, but if the current formula doesn’t change, it would have dropped city funding $97,000 in 2022 and another $97,000 in 2023. The City plans to head off a potential $194,000 decrease in funding by increasing the levy by $97,000 this year so they don’t have to do the entire increase the following year.

For the average Detroit Lakes resident, the tax increase will be minimal. Total City taxes on the median home value in Detroit Lakes of $190,600 will come in around $718 a year, that’s an increase of about $23.97 a year, or about a $2.00 increase per month.

A commercial property in Detroit Lakes valued at $500,000 will see their taxes increase by about $130 per year.

“It’s an increase, but I think it’s manageable for most people – I think we did a pretty good job,” said Mayor Brenk.

A full breakdown of the city’s budget and tax levy is available on the City’s website.