Bloomington's municipal budget determines how your tax dollars are allocated across city services. New this year, the budget be on a two year cycle. This means that what the city council decides this year will determine spending for the next two years (2027 and 2028).
Budget engagment has already begun, and will continue through the rest of the year. Here's the timeline:
Update 10/3/26: As a part of setting its preliminary levy, the city has committed $150,000 to the Climate Action Plan and $55,000 to the neighborhood traffic calming program! Help us take it to the finish line by taking the action steps below.
Priority corridors identified in Bloomington's Active Transportation Action Plan. With your help, we can make a safe, connected network of walking and biking routes a reality.
Submit a comment online and learn about the budget on Let's Talk Bloomington.
Send your feedback before November 16, 2026 to make sure it is presented to City Council at its second budget study session.
"Please continue supporting bicycle, pedestrian, and traffic calming investments across the board in the city. Realize the bold visions the city has already established in the the Active Transportation Action Plan, the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan, and the Bloomington Ferry Road and American Boulevard studies. Use this to not only reduce the heat island and auto emissions from asphalt, but cut down on repaving $$$. Provide local funding matches for state and county roadway projects to leverage the money these agencies are spending toward the benefit of active transportation in Bloomington. Give Metro Transit a reason to expand service in the city. Connect the investments in schools, parks, community centers, and neighborhood commercial centers through an All Ages and Abilities (AAA) bike network."
"Priorities should be climate and natural resource centered with much more cycling, peds infrastructure."
"Safe bike and pedestrian trails that connect to destinations like businesses, schools, parks, and across town."
"Active Transit: Separated and protected bike lanes buffered by green spaces. Walkable human scaled streets and 3rd spaces to build community. Density & Affordability: Built with materials like massed timber, we could be seeing a huge increase in density very rapidly. Transit will be the most important aspect of this success."
"Right-sizing roadways whenever possible to save costs on road construction and maintenance- roadways like Collegeview, Old Shakopee in South Loop, 30th Ave, Bloomington Ferry, Auto Club Rd, Xerxes Ave S, that were build significantly wider than current road volumes warrant, especially roads like Bloomington Ferry that were built to handle traffic pre-169 that have way lower volumes. We shouldn't need to take 3 years and multiple studies just to right-size roadways that are clearly overbuilt, and neighborhood streets that are built to 44ft (especially roads like Xerxes that have parking lanes that are signed as no parking) when they can be shrinked to save money and accommodate bike paths, sidewalks, and other features that move people more cost effectively than roadways. Our commercial corridors are significant to our city, and retail workers that are the backbone of the Bloomington economy need housing that fits our needs. Higher density, mixed-use on corridors like Lyndale place people close to where they work, shop, entertain, and go to school."
Email City Council.
See the sample comments above for reference. Find your city council members here—each resident is reprsented by the mayor, two at-large councilmembers, and one district councilmember.
Attend an in-person meeting.
City Council meetings on the budget are listed above and are held at 6:30 PM Monday evenings at Bloomington Civic Plaza. You may also speak at a listening session before any regular City Council meeting at 5:45 PM.
Supporting walking, biking, and transit for everyone. Including kids! (City of Bloomington)
