The Washington County Board on Tuesday unanimously approved its maximum levy — the upper limit of what the county can collect in property taxes — for 2026.

The $150.2 million tax levy represents a 6.95 percent increase over 2025.

The county tax rate is set to increase by 2.3 percent. Market appreciation and a slight decrease in new construction in 2025 are contributing factors to the increase, county officials said.

“This levy represents a continued strategy on the part of Washington County and the members of this board,” Commissioner Fran Miron said. “We are in very uncertain times with cost shifts to counties, and I think this levy helps address some of that issue. But the coming years will be an interesting process.”

Proposed budget

The proposed 2026 budget adopted by the board on Tuesday, also by a 5-0 vote, includes $300 million in operating expenses, $117.5 million in capital projects and $16.8 million in debt service.

The budget includes cost shifts from the federal government to the county for existing mandated services, capital investments in county facilities, roads and bridges and parks. It also includes adjustments to employee compensation and increases to health care costs, said County Administrator Kevin Corbid.

Among the capital projects planned for 2026: $113.2 million for road and bridge projects; a $13.5 million makeover of the Park Grove Library in Cottage Grove; $1.3 million for the development of the new Central Yard Waste site in Afton; $1.8 million for improvements to county parks, and $200,000 for electric-vehicle charging stations.

The largest road construction project planned for 2026? The $40 million Lake Elmo Avenue and Highway 36 interchange project, Corbid said.

Growing population

Washington County’s estimated population in 2025 is 287,907, a 1.7 percent increase over 2024. That growth is requiring additional expenditures in libraries and other programs that provide direct service to residents, Corbid said.

Inflationary pressures for salaries and wages, fuel for vehicles and the increased cost of construction also are a factor.

With the proposed budget, the county would maintain the same ratio of five employees per 1,000 residents as in the past several years, Corbid said.

Washington County’s property tax rate has remained below the average in the metro area since 2020, according to Corbid.

The county had the third-lowest levy per capita in Minnesota and the second-lowest tax rate in the seven-county metro area in 2025, meaning that a similarly valued property would be taxed at a higher rate in every other metropolitan county but Dakota County.

It is anticipated that under the preliminary property tax levy, the owner of a median-valued home ($423,700) that had a median increase in value (1.7 percent) would see a $41 increase in the county portion of property taxes for 2026, or a 4.2 percent increase from 2025, he said.

Other taxing authorities that contribute to property tax bills include local school districts and cities or townships.

What’s next

The board also approved a tax levy of $1.2 million for the Land and Water Legacy Program and $660,000 for the Washington County Regional Rail Authority, the same as in previous years.

The board will make a final adoption of the county budget and levy in December after a public hearing. There could be changes between now and then.

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About 35 percent of the total budget comes from property taxes; 33 percent is from state and federal sources. The rest comes from various taxes, fees, revenues and financing.

The board will review the county’s five-year capital improvement plan on Oct. 7 and then conduct a public hearing on it on Nov. 25.

On Dec. 2, it will conduct a final workshop on the budget and levy proposal before the annual truth-in-taxation hearing. Once a proposed levy has been set, it cannot be raised, only lowered.

The final budget and levy is expected to be adopted Dec. 16.