At the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) meeting on Wednesday, August 19, at 5pm, Park Superintendent Al Bangoura will present the recommended 2027-28 budget to the Board of Commissioners. The budget is meant to support the goals and strategies outlined in Parks for All, the MPRB’s comprehensive plan that runs from 2021 through 2036. In my interview with Board President Tom Olsen, he urged residents to tune in for the presentation and make their voices heard. His concern is that if the mayor’s current “placeholder” levy for the parks is passed, it will mean layoffs and service cuts in the park system.
The MPRB budget calls for a 5.86% levy increase, which Olsen describes as a “keep the lights on” budget. Mayor Frey has proposed a 2.5% increase, along with consolidating departments such as HR and payroll between the city and the parks. In its newsletter, the park board said the mayor’s proposal could lead to the layoff of as many as 26 staff members. The newsletter also cites internal data showing that park board HR and IT staff operate at a much lower cost than their city counterparts, meaning any savings from consolidation would likely be minimal.
By contrast, while the mayor has said the city will reduce staff by more than 100 positions, the actual net change for next year is only seven fewer employees. Olsen is one of many people reviewing each line of the mayor’s proposed budget for overspending and waste. As one example, he points to the city assessor’s office, which has a $7 million budget and, he argues, duplicates work the county could handle instead.
There are several reasons to expect this year’s budget negotiations to be tougher than in years past. Chief among them, many city councilors and residents feel the city has done a poor job managing the Minneapolis Police Department’s budget; unaccounted-for overtime has repeatedly been cited as a sign of insufficient budget oversight. Other, more structural challenges exist as well. Economic growth has slowed, commercial vacancies remain high, and tax collections from those properties have fallen. As revenue has declined, city services and costs have continued to rise. Closing that gap will require either meaningful spending cuts or new revenue. According to Mayor Frey’s office, the gap stands at $70 million, and an 11.3% tax levy is needed to help close it. Over the next few months, we plan to examine the range of proposals brought forward to address this shortfall.
Toward the end of the interview, we discussed a few park-specific issues. I asked about the closure of the Minnehaha off-leash dog park, an issue close to many dog owners’ hearts. It’s hard to imagine finding an alternative that captures what made that space special. Olsen asked that dog owners contact the MPRB directly with what mattered most to them about the park.
We also discussed this year’s unusually high number of beach closures. Olsen linked the elevated E. coli levels in city lakes to climate change and goose droppings, but noted that the park board is working with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District to address the problem.
Interview Summary
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board President Tom Olsen sat down to walk through this year’s budget fight, which pits the Park Board’s request for a 5.86% levy increase against Mayor Frey’s proposed 2.5%. Olsen explained that the Board’s request is a “keep the lights on” budget driven mostly by fixed costs: cost-of-living raises, rising healthcare expenses, the state’s paid family and medical leave program, and staffing needs for new facilities like North Commons and Upper Harbor Terminal. He pushed back on the mayor’s argument that merging Park Board functions like HR and IT into the city would save money, pointing to internal cost comparisons showing the Board’s in-house teams are cheaper per employee than the city’s, and citing a past ransomware attack as evidence of the value of specialized IT staff. He raised a comparable example in the other direction, the city’s own assessor’s office, which he said duplicates work the county already handles for most other municipalities.
Olsen also situated the local fight within a larger pattern of funding pressure moving downhill from the federal government to states, counties, and cities, arguing that Minneapolis and Hennepin County are absorbing costs that should be covered elsewhere. He pointed to a state fund for regional parks and trails that he says shortchanges Minneapolis relative to what statute calls for, and floated new revenue ideas the Board is exploring, including billboard leases on underused land, a dedicated license plate fund, and a larger initiative still under wraps that would require political capital at the State Capitol. The Board might consider potential long-term uses for land it owns outside Minneapolis, such as Meadowbrook Golf Course, as a way to seed an endowment.
On specific parks, Olsen addressed the closure of Minnehaha Park’s longstanding off-leash dog area, explaining that the original approval skipped required archaeological review and misjudged the property’s boundaries, with cultural and environmental concerns now driving a search for alternative sites. He also discussed a rise in beach closures tied to E. coli, attributing it to climate change, lower water levels, and goose activity, while noting ongoing restoration work with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. Looking ahead, the levy fight moves to a public BET hearing in early September, followed by a vote and final approval through the City Council and mayor, with Olsen encouraging residents who value the park system to weigh in during that process.
