Minnesota Releases Property Tax Levies For 2020

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Department of Revenue annually releases a list of the preliminary maximum property tax levies that have been reported by local governments and have been passed by local school referenda on Nov. 5, 2019.

The preliminary amounts are used by counties to compute property tax estimates for 2020, which are mailed to property owners in November in the form of Truth-in-Taxation notices.

After input from citizens, local governments must set their final 2020 property tax levies by Dec. 30, 2019. The final levies can be set lower, but not higher, than preliminary levies. The department will release final property tax levy information in February.

For 2020, preliminary property taxes statewide will increase $540.4 million, a 5.2 percent increase. Last year, preliminary statewide property taxes increases totaled $560 million, a 5.7 percent increase, and last year’s final levy increase was 5.4 percent ($524 million).

• Cities - The 2020 preliminary property tax levies for cities will total approximately $2.711 billion compared with a final levy of $2.521 billion in 2019, a 7.5 percent increase.
• Counties - The 2020 preliminary property tax levies for counties will total approximately $3.455 billion compared with a final levy of $3.295 billion in 2019, a 4.9 percent increase.
• Townships - The 2020 preliminary property tax levies for townships will total approximately $269 million compared with a final levy of $258 million in 2019, a 4.1 percent increase.
• Schools - The 2020 preliminary property tax levies for schools will total approximately $3.323 billion compared with a final levy of $3.106 billion in 2019, a 7 percent increase.
• Special Taxing Districts - The 2020 preliminary property tax levies for special taxing districts will total approximately $406 million compared with a final levy of $393 million in 2019, a 3.2 percent increase.