Photo by Deb Gau Marshall Director of Administrative Services E.J. Moberg presents a proposed 2026 levy increase at a city council work session on Tuesday.

MARSHALL — The city of Marshall was faced with some challenges in setting a preliminary levy for 2026. At a city council work session two weeks ago, council members were faced with a possible levy increase of nearly 14%, said E.J. Moberg, director of administrative services for the city.

“At the time, it was higher than I think everyone wanted it to be,” Moberg said Tuesday. “The consensus was, we needed it lower.”

At another work session Tuesday afternoon, Moberg said city staff had worked to get a proposed preliminary levy increase from 13.96% down to 7.5%. Taking into account growth in Marshall’s tax base, he said, “It’s really going to be about a 5.2% increase as far as people will see, for the city share of the levy.”

The Marshall City Council needs to set a preliminary levy by the end of September.

Moberg explained some of the changes that took place in order to reduce the proposed 2026 budget at levy. One change was that the city saw a decrease in debt service funds, he said.

“We did get debt service to flatten off by finding some additional savings there of some monies for a particular project,” he said.

Moberg said there were four main factors city staff used to reduce the proposed levy increase.

“One of the big ones is insurance updates,” he said.

“When I was here two weeks ago, I told you that our levy percent included a 20% increase in health insurance costs. At that time, we were out for an RFP through our broker,” Moberg said. “We had rates that ranged from 14.9% all the way to 24.9%, and the existing came in at 19.9%. We went back and did a last and final offer type thing for them, and they came back at that time with a 13% increase to try and keep us. So that’s where we’re at today.”

Moberg said the city was also proposing some changes to the employer and employee cost shares for health and dental insurance.

Moberg said he worked with leaders from city departments to try and find ways to reduce or defer costs, or to raise revenue. Together, departments like Marshall Police, the Marshall Fire Department, the airport, and city engineering, streets, parks and assessing found a total of $197,500 in decreased costs.

“I do appreciate the input from various departments to help with this situation, to help get us down to a level we hope the council will be acceptable with,” Moberg said.

Marshall’s levy for 2015 general obligation bonds decreased after a finance review of the city’s debt service position and obligations, Moberg said.

The fourth factor in decreasing the proposed levy was removing a request for an additional staff position in the parks department, he said.

With a 7.5% levy increase, the city property taxes would go up $41 for a residence valued at $150,000, $98 for a $300,000 residential property, and $137 for a $400,000 residential property, Moberg said. City property taxes would go up $149 for a commercial property valued at $250,000, and $324 for a commercial property valued at $500,000.

Moberg said city staff will present a proposed 7.5% preliminary levy increase to the council at its next meeting on Sept. 23.