Anoka's Money, Explained
Where Anoka's Money Comes From — And Where It Goes
A plain-language look at the City of Anoka's 2025 finances, using the city's official annual financial report as the source. My goal is simple: make the numbers easier for residents to see, understand, and question.
Figures below cover the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025. Source: City of Anoka 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. Figures generally refer to the city's primary government unless otherwise noted; the separately presented HRA component unit is not included in the main revenue and spending totals shown here.
Where does the city's money actually come from?
Most people assume property taxes pay for almost everything a city does. In Anoka, that's not quite right. The city also runs enterprise operations — electric, water, sewer, storm drainage, liquor, golf, recycling, and a cannabis fund that was being built out in 2025 — and those enterprise revenues are a major part of the city's finances. In 2025, the city took in $71.96 million total from every source combined.
Total Revenue by Source — 2025
What this means: Charges for services — mostly electric, water, sewer, and other enterprise/customer charges — make up about 68% of primary government revenue. Property taxes are the second-largest source at about 17%. Electric-utility customer charges alone totaled $35.6 million — roughly three times the city's $12.25 million in property-tax revenue.
Source: MD&A, City of Anoka 2025 CAFR, p. 23; Statement of Activities, p. 31.
Where does the money go?
The city spent $63.91 million in 2025 across everything it operates — police and fire, streets, parks, and its utility and enterprise operations. Because the electric utility is both the city's biggest revenue source and its biggest expense (it has to buy the power it resells), it also dominates the spending side.
Total Spending by Function — 2025
What this means: Public safety — primarily police and fire — was the city's largest governmental function by gross expense at $9.49 million, about 15% of all primary-government expenses (public safety also received about $1.47 million of its own funding through charges and grants). Water, sewer, and storm drainage combined cost $6.6M. The city's other enterprises (liquor, golf, cannabis, recycling) cost $4.9M; these are structured as enterprise funds intended to rely primarily on customer revenue, although liquor, golf, and cannabis did not fully cover their expenses through customer charges in 2025.
Source: MD&A, City of Anoka 2025 CAFR, p. 23; Statement of Activities, p. 31.
How much does the city owe?
Cities borrow money (mostly through bonds) to pay for big, long-lasting projects — streets, buildings, utility infrastructure — rather than paying cash all at once. The question worth watching isn't just "how much debt," but whether it's going up or down, and whether the city can comfortably pay it.
$44.86M
Outstanding principal and other debt obligations, end of 2025
Excludes ~$1.20M in unamortized bond premiums
↓ $2.02M vs. 2024 ($46.89M)
AA+
Bond rating from Standard & Poor's
A very strong municipal bond rating
Debt by Type — 2025
What this means: The city's total debt shrank in 2025. The city maintains an AA+ Standard & Poor's rating — one notch below the agency's highest rating — indicating a very strong capacity to meet its financial commitments. That equals approximately $2,438 per resident using the report's stated population of 18,402; the report's statistical section shows $2,442 per resident because that table includes bond premiums. For context, state law caps how much general debt a city can carry relative to property values, and Anoka is well under that statutory limit.
Source: MD&A, City of Anoka 2025 CAFR, p. 28. Per-resident figure calculated using the report's stated 2025 population of 18,402 — not from the CAFR directly. See also the Outstanding Debt by Type schedule, Statistical Section, pp. 149-150.
Does the city have a "rainy day fund"?
Just like a household savings account, cities keep reserve funds on hand for emergencies or revenue shortfalls. Anoka's fund balance policy says the city intends to keep unassigned General Fund balance at not less than 30% of budgeted operating expenditures, with some year-to-year fluctuation allowed — specifically in the fund that pays for police, general government, and day-to-day operations.
General Fund unassigned balance, 2025
The General Fund ended 2025 with $4.48 million in unassigned fund balance, equal to 27.1% of that year's actual General Fund expenditures. The city's separate fund-balance policy targets at least 30% of budgeted operating expenditures. Because those percentages use different denominators (actual expenditures vs. budgeted expenditures), they should not be treated as a direct comparison.
$4.48M
General Fund unassigned reserve
$7.58M
Combined governmental fund balance
↓ $260K vs. 2024
What this means: The General Fund's unassigned balance (27.1% of actual expenditures) is below the city's separate policy target of at least 30% of budgeted expenditures — though since the two percentages are calculated on different bases, this isn't a strict apples-to-apples shortfall. Combined governmental fund balance also dipped slightly in 2025, mainly due to spending on street projects using state aid the city had already been advanced.
Source: MD&A, City of Anoka 2025 CAFR, pp. 20, 26. Fund-balance policy target: Note 1, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, p. 58.
Is the city's overall financial position getting stronger or weaker?
"Net position" is the closest thing a city's books have to net worth — everything the city owns, minus everything it owes. Net position is one useful big-picture indicator of whether the city's overall financial position is improving or deteriorating over time.
$194.68M
Total net position, end of 2025
↑ $8.05M (+4.3%) vs. 2024
$15.60M
Unrestricted net position
— not externally restricted, but still subject to city obligations and fiscal policy
What this means: By this broad measure, the city's financial position improved in 2025, driven by capital investment in the electric and cannabis funds, higher tax-increment collections, and finishing the multi-year Highway 10 project. Most of the city's net position (87%) is tied up in physical assets like roads and buildings — real value, but not cash on hand.
Source: MD&A, City of Anoka 2025 CAFR, pp. 20-22.