Minnetonka City Council — Transcript
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
Employee Engagement Survey Results
Preliminary 2026 Budget and 2027 Tax Levy Review
Votes (2)
Preliminary Employee Engagement Survey Results Presentation by Decision Wise
The presentation by Decision Wise consultant Charles Roguel highlighted very strong employee engagement and satisfaction within the City of Minnetonka. Overall, 86% of responses were favorable, significantly exceeding global and public administration benchmarks. Key drivers of engagement included meaning and purpose, opportunities for skill utilization, work-life balance, and supervisor feedback. The high 'intent to stay' score (89%) indicates strong retention. Management noted the survey helps quantify and confirm the city's strong internal culture and guides continuous improvement efforts, with department-specific results to be used internally by directors.
Preliminary 2026 Budget Review
The review focused on the proposed 2026 operational budget and its impact on the 2027 tax levy. The city proposes a total property tax levy increase of 7.892%. Key budget drivers include $1.45 million for staffing compensation adjustments, an 8.9% increase in health insurance costs, and $150,000 for the new Minnesota Paid Family Medical Leave. The Public Safety Master Plan accounts for 2.6% of the levy, covering full-year funding for 9 new firefighters, police compensation adjustments, and a new community engagement officer. Discussions also centered on funding for community facility improvements (Community Center and Fire Station 2), with a proposed 0.735% levy increase for debt service, supplemented by reallocating $300,000 from an expiring park bond. Staff outlined a strategy to leverage excess fund balance and seek state bonding to minimize tax impact for large capital projects. Homeowner impacts are projected at a 9.5% increase for the median home due to the levy and a shifting tax burden from commercial to residential properties.
Notable Quotes (8)
One of the things about the Baldridge Excellence Framework is it's a proven nationally recognized model for driving high performance in organizations by focusing on leadership, strategy, operations, and as I've already noted, results. It helps cities like Minnetonka align resources with community priorities.
Your overall results are very positive. So 86% of all the answers to the 32 questions that we asked on the survey were agree or strongly agree... This is on the high end of what we typically see.
But I do think that the, you know, a survey like this is very helpful. And I think getting granular with the different departments is is good... I think the people in this room make a real difference um in terms of how people feel about working here.
we are talking about one of the most important decisions you make as a council regarding the 2027 tax levy.
when you adopt a preliminary levy, it can it can go down, but it cannot go up as you look to approve a final tax levy in December.
our tax levy at a minimum would need to be at that 4.8% just given um obligations for union contracts in our pay system and the benefits um especially related to health insurance and some other costs related to that.
we know we can't um eat that entire elephant at one time. It's the proverbial how do you eat an elephant? It's one bite at a time. And so we're trying to be strategic about how we can kind of phase into these improvements at a at a in a way that has very that has minimal tax levy impact.
the tax capacity thing is affecting every city because the the different sectors are are changing. So losing commercial, but we are so lucky after reading an article recently where, you know, Minneapolis is 13% down and we are half a percent. So we're kind of holding our own in terms of commercial value.
Ordinances & Resolutions (15)
Nationally recognized model for driving high performance, used by the city manager
The budget document under review by the City Council
Council's guiding document, with 'financial strength' as a major pillar
Provides valuable input for budget priorities and resident feedback on services and taxes
Reviewed in June, discussed in relation to the HRA levy
Reviewed in June, discussed in relation to funding for projects and levy components
Third year of implementation, a significant driver of the proposed tax levy increase
10-year agreement for police software and equipment (tasers, cameras, records management system)
New state requirement impacting the city's budget by approximately $150,000
Federal grant the fire department applies for to fund additional firefighters
$2.5 million bond issuance for Ann Cullins Smith property, set to be paid off early
Referendum that originally approved funding for park improvements including the Ann Cullins Smith property
Council action needed to officially call the 2016 park bond and approve state bonding requests
Process for notifying residents of preliminary tax notices and public comment opportunities
Vendor for new Priority Based Budgeting software