City Budget
Mayor Christine Erickson presented the 2027 Mayors' Recommended Budget to City Council on Thursday, July 30. This proposed budget is available for review:
Read the Proposed 2027 Mayor's Budget
Watch the Mayor's Budget Address
The proposed 2027 Budget focuses on foundational investments.
Just like families have limited income so does the City. We must budget for big purchases, the City plans ahead for investments that strengthen our financial foundation and reduce long-term costs. We start by estimating revenue from taxes, fees, grants, and other sources. Then, we identify what our community needs to thrive. City officials work together to balance these priorities in the annual budget.
Here’s how the budget affects you.
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Impact on Property Taxes: Our residents work hard for every dollar, and they deserve a city government that treats those dollars with the same care. Due to state legislation (SB 216) passed in early 2025, the City is estimating at least a $25 million reduction in property tax revenue over the next 10 years, requiring at least $12 million in ongoing operational expense reductions over four years. Mayor TenHaken initiated budget recalibration last year and made $5 million in reductions. With administrations and councilors transitioning mid budget season, this budget intentionally holds the line on those changes, giving our administration time to determine the next round of recalibrations for the 2028 budget. This affects the General Fund, which is the only fund that uses property taxes and pays for daily services like wages for public safety employees, street maintenance, snow removal, parks maintenance, and library operations.
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Your Service Priorities: Sioux Falls residents have told us safety and security, street conditions, and traffic congestion are their top priorities. Public safety protects this city. Streets connect it. Utilities serve it. But our quality-of-life spaces and services are why people choose to call Sioux Falls home.
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How We Compare: Sioux Falls’ population has grown about 2.5% a year, roughly 5,000 new neighbors annually. Earlier this year, the City reported that we are at an estimated 224,676 residents. To strategically and pragmatically plan for growth, we balance foundational and quality of life investments while practicing fiscal discipline. While managing this growth, the City has done it with discipline, having consistently received third-party validation for its fiscal stewardship. WalletHub compares the quality of services residents receive against what a city spends to deliver them. By that measure, they just ranked Sioux Falls the sixth best-run city in America, our highest ranking yet. Sioux Falls also maintains an AA bond rating, the second highest rating, which is another third-party validation of the fiscal responsibility that is built into the operations and culture of city teams.
Learn how your City budget gets made
We estimate how much revenue we’ll receive from taxes, fees, grants, and other sources. Then looking at least 10 years ahead, we allocate funds to meet community priorities. Each budget decision is evaluated for its long-term financial impact on the City and to ensure taxpayers receive maximum value for their investment. This ensures today’s investments don’t become tomorrow’s financial burden. The Mayor, City Council, Finance, and department leaders work together to create a budget that serves residents well.
The City budget includes both annual operating expenses and a five-year capital program. This helps us keep current services while planning smart investments for the future. The budget is our planned roadmap for the year, adjusted as circumstances change.
The budget covers three main areas:
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Operating expenses keep core services running every day that taxpayers expect — fire and police protection, street maintenance and snow removal — along with parks, public health, and libraries.
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Internal service expenses fund behind-the-scenes operations like employee benefits, insurance, city-wide fleet, building management, and technology.
We maintain public access to budgets for the past five years.
Approved budgets are official City records. Any reports older than five years are archived and available by request. Anyone can request a past report from the Finance Department.