How Brookings is run
Who runs Brookings, what it costs, and where your money goes
The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Brookings's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 11, 2026.
Who runs Brookings
A City Manager appointed by the council runs the city day to day and prepares the budget. The mayor and six council members are elected at large; the mayor votes and presides at meetings but has no administrative duties.
What they are paid
- $500 a month car allowance
- Six months' notice or severance pay if fired without cause
- Deferred compensation (457 plan) up to the IRS limit, including the age-50 catch-up
- State retirement system (SDRS) with a 6% city match
- Health, life, dental and vision insurance on the same terms as other management staff
- Eligible for cost-of-living raises, bonuses and pay range changes like other city employees
- Reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses of office
Brookings city staff
517 full-time-equivalent positions, including Hospital (Brookings Health System) 234, Electric utility 51, Telephone utility 50, Police 38. 2025. City of Brookings · Jun 30, 2026
The city posts wage ranges for its positions. We found no published list of pay by person. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Brookings in the red?
Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.
Savings
Unassigned general fund balance: $16.5M (2025-12-31). City of Brookings
Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.
Where the money comes from and goes
The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026 (adopted budget).
Comes from
- Taxes (sales and property)$15M · 65%
- Transfer from Brookings Municipal Utilities$2.7M · 12%
- Departmental revenues$1.7M · 8%
- Charges for goods and services$874,500 · 4%
- Intergovernmental$852,221 · 4%
- Miscellaneous$613,638 · 3%
- Other (licenses, fines, other transfers)$1.2M · 5%
Goes to (FY2026 (adopted budget))
- Culture and recreation (parks, library, ice arena, pool)$5.9M · 26%
- Police$5.3M · 23%
- General government$5M · 22%
- Public works and community development$4.8M · 21%
- Fire$1.1M · 5%
- Transfers to other funds$416,588 · 2%
- Other (health and welfare, hydrant rental)$475,771 · 2%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Rates are from the city's 2025 audited report. The school rate varies by property class; these are owner-occupied rates. The 2026 budget brief estimates $4,584 a year in property taxes on a $350,000 home, of which $771 goes to the city.
15¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Brookings
- Brookings School District (operating)6.91 · 48%
- Brookings County3.92 · 27%
- City of Brookings2.22 · 15%
- Brookings School District (debt service)1.33 · 9%
- Total ($ per $1,000 of taxable value)14.38
2025 rates for an owner-occupied home in the city of Brookings (Brookings County, Brookings School District). City of Brookings · Jun 30, 2026
Who provides your services
Not everything in Brookings is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityBrookings Police DepartmentCity of Brookings
- FireThe cityBrookings Fire Department49 members: 4 career and 45 volunteers.City of Brookings
- 911 dispatchThe cityBrookings Emergency 911 Center (city police department)City of Brookings
- ElectricityThe cityBrookings Municipal Utilities (city-owned)City of Brookings
- WaterThe cityBrookings Municipal Utilities (city-owned)City of Brookings
- SewerThe cityBrookings Municipal Utilities (city-owned)City of Brookings
- LibraryThe cityBrookings Public Library (city)City of Brookings
- Parks and recreationThe cityCity Parks, Recreation and ForestryCity of Brookings
- StreetsThe cityCity Street DivisionCity of Brookings
- AirportThe cityBrookings Regional Airport (city)City of Brookings
Compared with other cities
Cities in other states, so read this for scale, not as a ranking. Comparisons with similar cities in the same state come as we cover more of them.
| Per city | Palmetto BayFL | BrookingsSD | FarmingtonMN | WindsorCA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 25,217 | 25,355 | 25,425 | 25,498 |
| Top administrator's base pay | Not current (2020) | $224,103 | $204,208 | Not current (2022) |
| Council member pay | $12,000 | $9,000 | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| General fund per resident | $979 | $905 | $741 | $1,077 |
| Debt per resident | $330 | $3,473 | $496 | $577 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $0 | $-5 | $190 | $610 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 2.5 | 20.4 | 4.1 | — |
Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how). Palmetto Bay and Windsor pays another agency for police or fire, so its own staff count is lower.
What Brookings publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Yes: Adopted budget posted onlineThe full 2026 budget, a budget in brief and past budget books are posted on the city's budget page. City of Brookings
- Yes: City manager's contract findable online City of Brookings · Dec 9, 2025
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member onlineCouncil minutes list each member's yes, no or absent vote by name. City of Brookings · Dec 9, 2025
- Yes: Meeting videos and minutes onlineAgendas, minutes and videos are posted from 2010 on, and meetings stream live. City of Brookings
- Yes: Council pay stated in a public document City of Brookings · Nov 12, 2024
- Partly: Employee pay published City of Brookings
Questions to ask your council
- City debt was $88.1 million at the end of 2025, much of it state loans for the new water treatment plant. How will water rates cover those payments?
- The council raised the city manager's 2026 salary 8% to $224,102.99. How does the council review performance before each yearly raise?
The fiscal year runs January 1 to December 31. The city manager must submit the budget by September 30. For 2026, budget workshops were held September 9 and 23, 2025, the first reading was October 28, and the second reading and adoption were set for November 18, 2025. See who is running for council
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