At their December 9 Board meeting, the Board of Commissioners adopted the 2026 Budget for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) that focuses on caring for park amenities and infrastructure, protecting the environment and natural resources it manages, serving the youth of Minneapolis through quality programming and investing in employees who deliver services.
“This year’s budget process was challenging,” said MPRB Board President Cathy Abene. “We continued to face pressure to limit increases in residential property taxes while hearing loud and clear from the community that they want service levels maintained—or even enhanced. Despite those constraints, we successfully kept all ice rinks open for the 2025–2026 season and will fully open River Hub, the new recreation center at Graco Park, with a typical operating schedule.”
The 2026 Budget provides a total Budget of $160 million, including $114.4 million for the general operating fund, $17.3 million for the enterprise operating fund, $2.2 million for the special revenue fund and $26.4 million for capital project funding. It includes a 6.11 percent tax levy increase, which amounts to an approximate $22 annual increase in property taxes – approximately $1.85 per month – for owners of a median $333,400 value home.
“The Minneapolis Park system was founded more than 140 years ago by and for the residents of Minneapolis,” said Al Bangoura, Superintendent. “We acknowledge and deeply appreciate that Minneapolis parks belong to the residents of Minneapolis and that it is their unwavering and vocal support that allows us to continue delivering parks, programs and facilities that make Minneapolis a great place to live, play, work and visit.”
The 2026 Budget represents the second year of MPRB’s first two-year budget process. The MPRB has long relied on multiyear plans to maintain financial health. The 2026 plan, adopted last year, served as the basis for the 2026 recommended budget.
It also marks the tenth year of the NPP20. The NPP20 was established through concurrent ordinances passed by the Minneapolis Mayor and City Council and MPRB Board of Commissioners in April and May 2016, respectively. It utilizes the Criteria-Based System for Capital and Rehabilitation Neighborhood Park Project Scheduling (Criteria-Based System) Ordinance passed by the MPRB Board of Commissioners in July 2016 and amended in 2023 to better address undeveloped parks. The NPP20 allocation, which is funded through city bonding, will receive an inflationary increase in 2026.
This 2026 budget supports the MPRB’s commitment to strategic long-term planning through the 2023-2026 Strategic Directions, Performance Goals, and Priority Comprehensive Plan Strategies adopted by the Board in May 2022. The five strategic directions are: act boldly for our climate; cultivate each community’s place and honor cultural traditions in Minneapolis parks; implement quality youth and intergenerational programs; care for park assets to meet evolving needs and practices; and steward our natural resources.
Strategic Direction A – Act boldly for our climate future
The Board is committed to acting boldly for our climate future by reducing our carbon footprint, implementing resiliency projects in service area long-term vision plans and the ecological system plan, and analyzing park visitor access modes to create baseline data for future decision-making. This budget supports these goals through departmental budget actions, and for the first time, MPRB leadership was able to utilize visitor data to support the budget decision-making process.
Strategic Direction B – Cultivate each community’s place and honor cultural traditions in Minneapolis parks
The MPRB mission looks to dismantle historic inequities in the provision of park and recreation opportunities for all people, and the Board seeks to cultivate each community’s place and honor cultural traditions in Minneapolis parks through enhanced and unified organization-wide volunteer management and through enhanced community safety and Park Police engagement activities. This budget supports these goals through department budget actions and by continuing the Indigenous Acknowledgment work. It includes guidance from key Indigenous stakeholders for MPRB Commissioners to update and approve a revised MPRB Tobacco and Cannabis Policy and to work with Dakota leadership on a new naming process to be included in the MPRB’s Naming Policy.
Strategic Direction C – Implement quality youth and intergenerational programs
In 2021, the culmination of significant work and collaboration with the Mayor and City staff led to a historic $2.6 million investment in youth. This was realized through a six-year funding agreement that includes a combination of property tax levy and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. This budget provides for year five of this agreement and includes a property tax levy increase of $260,000. With ARPA funding having expired on December 31, 2024, and full property tax support not being realized until 2027, a $260,000 funding gap is closed by holding three youth program specialists positions vacant in 2026. This budget also supports this goal through department budget actions, holding three youth program specialist positions vacant and expansion of the successful 2025 city-wide, needs-based free and reduced cost youth programming. Building on its success, the program will be expanded to include youth sports, intergenerational and senior programs in 2026.
Strategic Direction D – Care for park assets to meet evolving needs and practices
One of the most consistent requests received from all Commissioners is the desire to care for park assets to meet evolving needs and practices. The Board is committed to increasing the rate of parkway repaving or reconstruction, increasing the percentage of assets that are within their expected lifespan, establishing service standard levels for the top assets within the park system, and increasing the advancement of policy items identified in the system-wide master plan implementation tracker. This budget supports these goals through department budget actions, the implementation of parkway investment, and the care, maintenance, and activation of Graco and Upper Harbor Parks and restoration of the 2025 cuts to ice rink operations, including reopening of Powderhorn and Webber parks ice rinks on land.
Strategic Direction E – Steward our natural resources
The Board acknowledges its role as the steward of the park system’s natural resources and commits to natural area management, growing the public tree canopy, and improving water quality through best management practices. This budget supports these goals through department budget actions, enhanced natural area management with State operations and maintenance funding, the building of the Stormwater Management Program, and the addition of two full-time Natural Resource Specialist positions to support natural area management. The 2026 budget also funds the Stormwater Enterprise Funds.
The Superintendent’s recommended budget was presented in October 2025 and related documents are available for viewing at www.minneapolisparks.org/budget. The adopted budget book will posted online in January 2026.