Frequently Asked Questions

The second and fourth Mondays of the month at 6 p.m.

Work Sessions are the first Monday of the month at 6 p.m.

The Pioneer Press newspaper. 

Contact the City Clerk for information on licensing at cityclerk@ighmn.gov 

Once a position opens on a commission, the opening will be announced on our media outlets: website, social media, newsletters etc. Applications are taken from January- May. Interviews are tentatively scheduled in May. Interviews of candidates take place in front of the City Council. For more information, contact the City Clerk at cityclerk@ighmn.gov .

A data request must be submitted to the City in writing at the following link:  https://invergroveheightsmn.justfoia.com/publicportal/home/track

8150 Barbara Avenue Inver Grove Heights, MN 55077

West side of the building

The Police Department partners with the Dakota Communication Center for dispatching services. The DCC encourages the use of 9-1-1 for any situation that requires the response of police, fire, emergency medical personnel. This includes non-emergency situations such as reporting a crime, a traffic situation, or suspicious activity. The dispatcher will ask questions to help assure the proper level of response and that emergencies receive the highest priority. 9-1-1 should not be used for information purposes only. You may contact the DCC at 651-322-2323. For more information visit the DCC website at www.mn-dcc.org.

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Yes, parking on any street or highway within the City is prohibited from November 1st through April 1st between the hours of 3:00 am and 6:00 am. Warning notices will be issued beginning October 15th. On November 1st, any vehicle found in violation will be tagged and/or towed to the impound lot.

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If the animal is in an area where it is posing a threat to people, please call 911 so an officer can be dispatched to assess the situation. If the animal is not posing an immediate threat, please contact the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at 651-486-9453 for advice.

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The use of firearms including BB guns and paintball guns are prohibited except by law enforcement officers in the line of duty, or when used by a person to lawfully defend their person, property or family, or on a licensed shooting range within the City.

You are only required to notify the police if there is an injury related to the crash, or if public property has been damaged. Crashes that result in damage to the vehicles only can be handled by exchanging insurance information. If for any reason you would like an officer to respond, please call 911 or 651-322-2323 and an officer will be dispatched. If the crash has resulted in an injury or in $1,000 combined damage for all vehicles involved, a State of Minnesota Accident Report must be completed. This requirement is in place regardless of whether an officer responded or not. You may obtain the form from the Department of Public Safety: www.dps.state.mn.us

Please complete a data request - Data Request

The Police Department can do a local record check (Inver Grove Heights Police records only) and provide you with a certified written document containing the results of the search for $32. If you need a FULL criminal background check, please contact the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at 651-793-2400.

The State of Minnesota can provide you with a copy of your driving record. Contact the Division of Vehicle Services at 651-296-6911.

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Two options: 1. Download the application from the Department of Public Safety web site (www.dps.state.mn.us), complete it and bring it in to the Police Department (bring ID to show you are the applicant). 2. Complete an application at the Police Department. You must reside in the City of Inver Grove Heights. Please allow seven to 10 business days to process the application. If you're approved, you will be contacted regarding your next step. If you're not approved, will will contact you to explain the reason for denial. A permit to acquire is valid for one year. Each year you must come in and renew your permit if you wish to purchase additional firearms. You don't need to renew your permit to continue to own current firearms.

Permits to carry a firearm are processed at the County level only. If you live in Dakota County, visit thier web site (www.dakota.mn.us) or call 651-438-4700.

The City does not allow outdoor storage of household items, construction materials, vehicle parts etc. Outdoor storage of items not meant for outdoor use is prohibited unless contained by a solid fence 6 feet in height. Storage items may not contain junk vehicles or junk of any kind. If you wish to build a fence, a permit may be obtained by calling our Building Department at 651-450-2550.

No. Junk and inoperable vehicles must be stored inside a garage or removed from the property.

Soak them in water for 24 hours and then you can throw them in the garbage.

This site promotes fire safety for kids and does it in a fun way, with games, videos, and worksheets:  http://www.firesafekids.org/games.html 

This interactive resource gives homeowners a visual understanding of hazards in the house and it has a feature showing all of the rooms that are particularly fire prone. https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/homehazards/

No. It is typically more cost effective to buy a new extinguisher for your home.  The Recycling Center in Eagan will take fire extinguishers to be recycled.

No; the Inver Grove Heights Fire Department does not check car seats. The Police Department does child safety seat inspections.  Please contact them at 651-450-2525 to make an appointment.

No. First, your phone call to a fire station may go unanswered if everyone is away from their work areas. However, even if you think it is not an emergency, the best thing to do is call 911. These calls go into Dakota 911 dispatch center, who sends out fire, police and medical personnel for both emergencies and non-emergencies. 

You can stop by Station 1 or Station 2. Both stations are staffed 24/7, unless they are out for a call.

Yes. Please call the main office number at 651-455-5082 to set up an appointment, or visit www.ighmn.gov/1412 to complete a tour request form for one of the fire stations.  Please specify which station. Days and times for tours are limited.

Call 911. A police officer will be dispatched first to evaluate the situation. 

We have what is called a “combination” fire department. We do have some full-time staff, however, about 75% of the firefighters are considered paid-on-call (POC) firefighters. These are similar to volunteer firefighters who have other full-time jobs outside the fire department and participate when not at their regular jobs. The difference between a POC firefighter and a volunteer is, the POC earns an hourly wage for being on shifts and attending calls, training and events. They also earn time toward a pension, where volunteers do not get compensated in any way.  

All paid-on-call firefighters can earn time toward a fire department pension program. There are minimum requirements that must be met, such as signing up for and working shifts, responding to the pager when called, and training in order to earn time toward that pension. At 7 years of service, a POC firefighter who has met all minimums, can qualify for 60% vesting of the approved pension amount, multiplied by the number of years served. The vesting percentage increases 5% each year until the firefighter has reached 15 years. At that time, the firefighter is 100% vested in the pension program. If someone leaves before 7 years, there is no pension earned. Full-time staff also earn a pension, but that is through a state plan. 

You do NOT need any previous training or experience to apply. We provide all training in-house as we host the Northern Dakota Training Academy. You will earn an hourly wage while you are going through training.   This academy, along with our weekly drills will, provide the firefighting, hazardous materials, water and land rescue, operation of different emergency vehicles (engines, ladders, water tenders, specialty) and emergency medical training you need. To pass your probationary period, you will be evaluated and tested for your skills and abilities. 

Yes. First, both full-time and paid-on-call (POC) firefighters are trained to the same level. We have two staffed fire stations (Stations 1 and 2), each with a crew ready to respond 24/7. Depending on the type of call, each crew may staff an engine, or one crew could staff a ladder truck. Each crew has a full-time officer, a full-time firefighter, and a paid-on-call firefighter (POC). Each crew responds to all calls that come in. If the emergency is large, we will page out our POC personnel to respond to assist.  Our Station 3 is not staffed. 

While the full-time staff works 24-hour long rotating shifts, the paid-on-call firefighters can sign up to work 4 or 8-hour shifts. We string those 4/8-hour shifts together with different POC firefighters throughout the day in order to cover that one firefighter spot 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  Both full-time and POC also train together. The POC also wear pagers when not working a shift and respond to their closest station to get on an apparatus, if paged. 

No. Because every firefighter, whether full-time or paid-on-call, is trained to the same level, they are all cross trained in everything we do. Since we only have a limited number of full-time firefighters, paid-on-call personnel always have to be trained and ready to respond to any type of call, whether to assist either of the two crews on-duty or because both of those crews are busy. 

No, all paid-on-call (POC) firefighters must sign up to work shifts, but they also have other requirements. There are weekly ongoing training and public education events they have to attend. In addition, POC firefighters still need to carry a pager and respond to callbacks from home/work for bigger and simultaneous incidents.

Since the most we have is two crews on duty at any one time, we have to be prepared for any kind of emergency. We get quite a few calls that come in close together, so we don’t want to take a small vehicle for a medical call as the next call coming in could be a fire, vehicle accident or rescue situation requiring a larger truck. Depending on the location of the separate calls, that could mean a 5-10 minute delay in a crew getting to the scene, if they had to get back to the station to switch to a bigger truck.   

Through formal mutual aid agreements, a request can be put out to give to and receive help from any fire department in Dakota County, as well as many departments in southeast Washington County. In addition, for structure fire calls, we have what is called auto-aid, as no single department has enough personnel to always cover their community for those larger incidents. 

 For auto-aid calls, certain types of emergencies are programmed into the computer aided dispatch system to call one of our neighboring departments for help at the same time our own firefighters are alerted. This is done to bring additional trained staff to the scene as quickly as possible, without someone having to remember to request them. Our auto-aid agreements are recognized by many insurance companies who consider the neighboring fire department as an IGH fire station. As a result, residents and businesses are able to see a reduction in their insurance premiums because of our auto-aid agreements.  

Many insurance companies use what is called a fire rating which is established by the Insurance Services Officer (ISO). ISO evaluates the fire department operations, equipment and training, along with the city’s water supply, every 5-10 years. Even some insurance companies who do not use the ISO rating still use the benchmarks within the ISO system. 

Some insurance agents do not realize that our auto-aid agreements with our neighboring fire departments can result in lower insurance rates. If you have questions on what the ISO rating is for your address, please contact the fire chief. 

No. The IGH FD or the City of Inver Grove Heights does not run an ambulance service. Our city is covered for emergency medical transportation by MHealth Ambulances. Firefighters will go to some of the medical calls in our city and work with MHealth on treatments and transportation of the patients. You may see MHealth ambulances parked at our fire station #3. We provide them space in that station to serve as a base for their operations for this area. That provides our residents and visitors with quicker response time by having them located within our city. Occasionally, you may see other ambulances driving through our city. That could be because all MHealth rigs covering IGH are busy and they need to call in mutual aid ambulances. 

We have no openings for full-time firefighters, but we accept applications year-round for paid-on-all firefighters. We typically process those applications each spring and hire once a year in late summer. If you already have fire/medical training and/or experience, we may be able to hire you at other times of the year. To apply, you can go to the city website at www.ighmn.gov/jobs and complete an application. 

No. To be a paid-on-call firefighter, you need to make sure you live within a seven-minute, normal driving response time from your home to one of the three fire stations in the city. You can use Mapquest and Google Maps to verify. You have to already live within that seven minutes before we will consider your application. We do not consider applications for those with the future intent of moving into this area.  You must also maintain this seven-minute response time throughout your time with our fire department. 

Permits are required for any size of fire in ALL parts of the city. Applications can be found on the city website. A recreational fire is considered no more than three-feet by three-feet with a two-foot flame height. To be able to have a recreational fire, a resident is required to have a fire ring on their property and get a permit through the fire department. If your fire ring meets the requirements of a permanent ring, the owner can apply for a permit that is good as long as that person owns that house. It is not transferable. If you are having company and just want to have a small one-time fire without creating a permanent ring, you can apply for a single-use permit. When you apply for the permit, you will get detailed instructions on placement of your fire ring and other requirements. 

If you are burning tree limbs or other brush, you will need a special open-burning permit for that larger fire. That permit also has requirements for size and location of the fire, as well as weather conditions needed to burn, and instructions for calling in your fire before you burn. You can ONLY BURN clean, dry wood in any fire. No treated wood, furniture, leaves, grass clippings, garbage, or chemicals are allowed. 

No. Neither charcoal and gas grills are allowed to be used or stored on the decks of apartment buildings. There are also some condos and townhomes where grills are also prohibited. When in doubt, please call the fire department at 651-455-5082 with your questions. 

Emergencies come in at all hours, including the middle of the night. The quickest response we can get is if firefighters are already at the fire station, where the trucks are located. It is much quicker to have firefighters in the station, rather than waiting for firefighters to wake up at home, get dressed and drive to the station, before even getting a truck out the door. 

Not at this time. We are continually exploring ways where an ordinary citizen can help within the fire department without such a serious time commitment, safety concerns, or without the same physical strength and endurance requirements of our firefighters. 

It is a fee that is authorized by State Law and can be established by a city as a way to collect revenue to pay for a specific project or projects. The utilities involved are required to collect the franchise fee by adding a fee to a utility bill.

The proposed franchise fees will generate approximately $1,000,000 in revenue annually that will help the city cover unfunded costs relating to city streets, parking lots and trails. On average, the city needs $4,150,000 per year for the next five years to cover costs not paid for from taxes, special assessments or other funding sources. Franchsie fees will help offset the associated costs without increasing property taxes.

Franchise fees allow the city to diversify its revenue sources. By implementing a franchise fee all utility users pay a fee, not just taxpayers. All who utilize the streets will help pay for them. Franchise fees will apply to all accounts within the city, including tax exempt parcels owned by non-profits and governmental entities.

It’s important that the City maintain transparency to residents and businesses. In an effort to be transparent, franchise fees will be reported in the Franchise Fee Special Revenue Fund. All projects paid for out of this fund will be reported.

Pending council approval, franchise fees will be implemented beginning with January 2018 billings. 

Proposed fees and examples of comparisons have been prepared for the same tax parcels used in the budget process. These comparisons are available on the city’s website www.invergroveheights.org – under Residents.

The current franchise agreements with Dakota Electric and Xcel Energy expire in October 2029 and November 2029, respectively. Collection of franchise fees are proposed to end on June 30, 2029, however, it can be renewed upon Council decision at that time.

Dakota County cities with franchise fees include Burnsville and South St. Paul.

By law, Dakota Electric and Xcel Energy have to collect the fee for the city, but were not responsible for the decision to implement the fees. The line item on the bill is called “City Fee.” 

Dakota Electric and Xcel Energy do not apply an administrative fee associated with the franchise fee. The full amount of the franchise fee revenue collected by the utility company is remitted to the City of Inver Grove Heights. (This full remittance with no administrative fee assessed to the city is required by the Public Utilities Commission.) The utility companies will no longer pay right of way fees.

A calendar of upcoming events pertaining to franchise fees is available on the city’s website www.invergroveheights.org – under Residents.

Xcel Energy Gas Rates Proposed

Residential $2.00

Commercial Non Demand $10.50

Commercial Demand $50.00

Small Interruptible $90.00

Medium and Large Interruptible $100.00

Dakota Electric Electric Rates Proposed

Residential $2.75

Small General (non-demand) $3.00

General (demand) $25.00

C&I Interruptible $25.00

Xcel Energy Electric Rates Proposed

Residential $2.75

Small C&I – Non Demand $3.00

Small C&I – Demand $25.00

Large C&I $95.00

Public Street Lighting $6.00

Examples of comparisons have been prepared for the same tax parcels used in the budget process.
Residential Mean Parcel with Taxable Value $231,176
Monthly Tax $5.14
Monthly Gas Franchise Fee $2.00
Monthly Electric Franchise Fee $2.75

Residential Median Parcel with Taxable Value $194,834
Monthly Tax $4.33
Monthly Gas Franchise Fee $2.00
Monthly Electric Franchise Fee $2.75

Business parcels will need to know who their electric provider is and what classification they are charged for electric and gas.
Business with Taxable Value $563,700 $3,058,200
Monthly Tax $14.32 $82.19
Franchise Fee depends on your electric provider and customer class. Fees could range from $13.50 to $195.00.
Xcel Energy Gas Rates Proposed
Commercial Non Demand $10.50 $10.50
Commercial Demand $50.00 $50.00
Small Interruptible $90.00 $90.00
Medium and Large Interruptible $100.00 $100.00
Dakota Electric Electric Rates Proposed
Small General (non-demand) $3.00 $3.00
General (demand) $25.00 $25.00
C&I Interruptible $25.00 $25.00
Xcel Energy Electric Rates Proposed
Small C&I – Non Demand $3.00 $3.00
Small C&I – Demand $25.00 $25.00
Large C&I $95.00 $95.00

6/5/2017 City Council Work Session

6/19/2017 City Council Special Meeting 6:00 p.m. to discuss uses

7/10/2017 City Council Meeting 1st Reading of Ordinance

7/10/2017 Call for Public Hearing

7/14/2017 Publication on website to provide additional notice

7/30/2017 and 8/6/2017 Publication in Southwest Review to provide additional notice

8/10/2017 River Heights Chamber Local Issues Meeting

8/14/2017 City Council Meeting Public Hearing and 2nd Reading of Ordinance

9/11/2017 City Council Meeting Continuation of Public Hearing and 3rd Reading of Ordinance

9/17/2017 Ordinance Publication in Southwest Review

9/18/2017 Send Ordinance to Dakota Electric and Xcel Energy

10/1-12/31/17 Xcel Energy requires receipt of ordinance at least 90 days prior to implementation

1/1/2018 Proposed Implementation of Franchise Fees

4/2018 City Collects 1st Quarter Franchise Fees from Dakota Electric & Xcel Energy

 Franchise Fees billed January and February

 Franchise Fees collected February and March

 Franchise Fees remitted April

All plots are approximately 13.5 by 17.5 feet or 236.25 square feet.

Only one plot per household is permitted.

All plots are $36.

The gardens are located at Salem Hills Park at 1642 Upper 55th Street S.

Every season is a little different so no promises. In 2021, the Parks Department did a great job re-grading the garden to fix flooding issues and we have not seen any consistent issues.

Yes, two water spigots are available for use. One on the north end and one on the south end. The city does not provide a hose or buckets.

Yes, there are compost bins available.

Yes, a lock is secured on the entrance gate. Only season renters will have the access code.

Registration is online; search in the outdoor activities category or keyword search "Community Garden".

We cannot guarantee you will be assigned to any specific plot. Plots are assigned on a first come first serve basis.

The southeast corner gets a considerable amount of shade during the day, this mostly impacts plot number 30. The website includes an aerial photo of the garden (PDF) where you can see the location of nearby trees.

See an aerial photo and general map of the garden plots on the official community garden website.

The City received verbal notice from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) in January, with a formal written notification dated January 30, 2023.

The City’s latest water tests at the Inver Grove Heights Water Treatment Plant show a continued trend of steady radium levels based on tests taken since March of 2025.  Water samples taken on October 29, 2025, by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) as part of the 2025 fourth quarter testing cycle for the City resulted in a combined radium reading of 3.1 picoCuries per Liter (pCi/L). The test decreases the City’s rolling annual average for combined radium to 2.9 pCi/L, which falls below the 5.4 pCi/L maximum contaminant level allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency.  

The City has contracted with a chemist to take City water samples and make recommendations regarding operational changes in the water treatment process to lower radium levels as quickly as possible. These operational adjustments, including additional sampling and radium testing above and beyond MDH testing requirements, have already been implemented and are being monitored for effectiveness. 

No. Boiling water does not remove radium.

The City is not recommending drinking bottled water. If you have a specific health concern, please consult your healthcare provider.

Yes. If you have a specific health concern, please consult your child’s healthcare provider, or you can visit the MDH website for more information at: www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/water/contaminants/radionuclides.html.

No. Carbon filters, such as Brita filters, are not recommended for removing radium. 

Some other water filters, such as reverse osmosis filters, are recommended for removing radium. Water customers that utilize home water treatment systems, such as water softening and distillation, are also likely reducing radium concentrations through these additional treatment processes. 

Yes. Radium must be ingested in high concentrations over extended periods of time (i.e., several years) to adversely affect health.

Updated May 30, 2025: Progress Update on Water Treatment Facility Rehabilitation Improvements

Work on the Water Treatment Facility Rehabilitation has progressed well over the past five months, and work on the first half of the sand treatment filters has been completed. Work on chemical feed systems is approximately 75% complete and will be fully complete in the next month. 

The original contact completion date for the Water Treatment Facility Rehabilitation was at the end of May 2025. Due to several procurement and supply chain issues experienced over the first half of 2025, not all materials were received with enough time to complete the rehabilitation work on the second set of sand treatment filters by the end of May, as originally planned. While all materials are now on-hand, due to the increased water usage needs for the community during the summer months, and the need to reduce the water treatment capacity to 50% or less while work is occurring on filters, work on the second set of filters will not begin until the Fall of 2025, and is anticipated to be completed by the end of December 2025. 

Throughout the construction of the improvements, the City has coordinated with the Minnesota Department of Health regarding the supply chain challenges, which have been prevalent on several active water treatment facility projects across the state. These issues, related to general material availability and ongoing challenges with the availability of American-made products (a requirement of some of the project funding), are items that are beyond the control of the City and our Contractor. City staff have worked with our Contractor to maintain the project costs within budget and have worked with the MDH to revise the completion date of the work through an amended Compliance Agreement, which was approved by the City Council on May 12, 2025. 

Please visit the City’s website at www.ighmn.gov/waternotice for more information on the radium notice. This site contains additional resources for water consumers, including past IGH Consumer Confidence Reports, which are annual water quality reports issued by the City, and links to more information about radium from the MDH.

Notices were sent in February 2023 to every property that receives water from the IGH water treatment facility. If you are a renter, your landlord might have received the notice for your address, or if you have a private well and do not use City water, you would not have received a notice. Additionally, some residents who receive a water bill from the City of IGH actually get their water from either the Eagan water treatment facility or the South St. Paul water treatment facility. In these cases, you would not have received a notice about radium levels in your water because your home or business does not get City of IGH water. 

Per the City's compliance agreement with MDH, the City is providing quarterly updates in its Insights newsletter. These updates can be viewed at ighmn.gov/newsletter.

To view the public notice, please visit www.ighmn.gov/waternotice, or email water@ighmn.gov with any questions. 

Private wells are not as deep as the aquifers from which the City sources its drinking water, and therefore the water in private wells comes from different ground strata. The City does not have data on radium levels in private wells on properties within the City of IGH. For more information on how you can test your private well water, please visit the Dakota County Water Testing website at: https://www.co.dakota.mn.us/Environment/WaterResources/WellsDrinkingWater/Pages/radium.aspx or the Minnesota Department of Health Well Testing website at: https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/water/wells/waterquality/index.html.

Mill and overlay is a two-step process. First, the top two inches of pavement are removed by grinding (“milling”) the street. The milling process typically takes one to two days.

Once removed, the road is coated with an adhesive oil before the new layer of pavement is placed and leveled (“overlay”). This ensures the existing layer and new layer of pavement bond together properly. Mill and overlay may require curb replacements and the repair of some public utilities (storm, sanitary and water). The entire process takes four to six weeks.

It is considered a cost-effective, quicker and less disruptive means of raising a road’s PCI when compared to other pavement reconstruction methods, and is effective at extending a roadway’s surface life for 20 or more years. 

Full-depth Reclamation (FDR) is the “recycling” of a road. The aging pavement and gravel base are crushed and blended together (reclaiming), and reused as the new base layer. Part of the FDR process includes replacing sections of curb, and adjustments to underground utilities (storm, sanitary and water). Once utilities are in place, the road is reshaped and leveled. The new base layer is compacted and will resemble a gravel road. Then the first layer of pavement is installed.

When utility structures are raised, driveways reconnected and yards re-established, the final pavement layer is placed and the street is complete. The entire process takes eight to ten weeks.

FDR is utilized when existing pavement or underlying gravel is deteriorated to a point where a mill and overlay would not effectively extend the roadway service life by 20 additional years.  

A full street reconstruction is needed when a neighborhood’s infrastructure is over 60 years old and shows deteriorating and failing conditions. During reconstruction, the entire roadway is removed and rebuilt. Infrastructure such as curbs and utilities (storm, sanitary and water) are replaced.

The pavement (or concrete) and base layer are removed before the installation or replacement of utilities can begin. Once utility work is complete, the base layer is rebuilt, and new curb and pavement are installed. When utility structures are raised, driveways reconnected and yards re-established, the final pavement layer is placed and the street is complete. A full street reconstruction takes about 12 weeks.

Full reconstruction typically occurs in neighborhoods where infrastructure is greater than 60 years old, and there has been a recent history of infrastructure failures, such as watermain breaks, localized street flooding and sewer main clogs or breaks.   

During street rehabilitation, some private and public utilities may need to be adjusted, relocated or replaced. Public utilities include storm sewer, sanitary sewer and water main systems. Private utilities include gas, electric, fiber, etc. Turf grass disturbance outside the City’s work area will be restored by the respective private utility company.

During working hours, there will be times when your driveway is blocked or inaccessible. You may need to park elsewhere and walk a short distance. Limited access to your property will be maintained during construction. The contractor oversees traffic control, and emergency access is always available. Driveways will be ramped as needed during the project and fully accessible.  If you have a disability or special needs, please contact the City Inspector at 651-470-6767. Access to commercial driveway entrances will be maintained to the greatest extent possible and interruptions will be coordinated.

During street rehabilitation, some private and public utilities may need to be adjusted, relocated or replaced. Public utilities include storm sewer, sanitary sewer and water main systems. Private utilities include gas, electric, fiber, etc. Turf grass disturbance outside the City’s work area will be restored by the respective private utility company.

If you have an irrigation system, invisible fence and/or landscaping located within 10 feet of the curb, it is possible it may be damaged or removed. Private facilities in the right-of-way are non-permitted and are placed at the property owner’s risk. The City does not restore or replace private facilities in the right-of-way. The contractor should only disturb the area necessary for the work. You may reinstall the private facilities any time after the topsoil is placed in your boulevard and graded.

1. Upon authorization of a feasibility report by the City Council, an informational mailing is sent from the City to residents and property owners who will be impacted by a project.  For projects where full reconstruction is proposed, this mailing is often accompanied by a resident survey, for staff to gain feedback on existing water and sewer utility services, and to identify potential ancillary improvements to consider with the street project (i.e., street flooding mitigation, roadway narrowing/widening, streetlighting improvements, sidewalk or trail installation, etc.).
2. Feasibility Report Open House mailing - An invitation is mailed from the City to residents, which includes the date and time of an Open House and a formal Public Hearing about the project.  
3. Feasibility Report Open House – An event held to discuss the feasibility study and project plans with City staff in an informal setting. Open Houses typically occur at a City facility (City Hall, Fire Station, etc.) or at a facility in or near the neighborhood impacted by a project. The open house is typically held a few weeks in advance of a public hearing.   
4. Public Hearing – A hearing held during a City Council meeting, where the merits of the project are discussed based on the feasibility report, and residents are offered the opportunity to voice their support, concerns, or opinions regarding the project in front of the City Council.  Upon completion of the public hearing, the City Council votes on whether to advance the project to final design. 
5. Contract Award – If a project is advanced during the public hearing, the City Council accepts project bids and awards a contract. This typically occurs within 3-4 months following the public hearing.
6. Construction Open House mailing – An invitation to a construction open house is mailed by the City. Residents can attend and learn more about the proposed construction schedule, impacts to property or access, and meet with City project staff. 
7. Construction Open House – An event held a few weeks in advance of construction activity starting in a given neighborhood.
8. Post-Construction/Assessment Hearing Open House and Assessment Hearing mailing - An invitation to a third Open House event is mailed to residents, which includes a notice of an Assessment Hearing and final special assessment values for the work are provided.. 
9. Assessment Open House – Any event held a few weeks in advance of the assessment hearing, where residents can review with staff any questions regarding final special assessment calculations and payment options.  
10. Assessment Hearing - A hearing held during a City Council meeting, where the final project costs and final special assessments are summarized based on the completion of the construction activities.  Residents are offered the opportunity to voice their opinions regarding the final special assessments in front of the City Council.  Upon completion of the assessment hearing, the City Council votes on certifying the final special assessments. 

Go to www.ighmn.gov/list.aspx and sign up for the email notifications that interest you. 

A storm water utility is a service similar to water and sanitary sewer utilities. A fee to fund the service is charged to property owners. Similar to a sanitary sewer utility, the fee is based on the amount that each property utilizes the service. In the case of storm water, it is based on the amount of storm water runoff generated by each property. For example, a parking lot creates more storm water runoff than a grassy area of the same size. Therefore, the parking lot owner would pay a higher storm water utility rate. In this way, property owners in the City pay for the management of storm water in proportion to the amount of storm water runoff they contribute to the system.

No matter where you live in Inver Grove Heights, when it rains, storm water runs off sidewalks, homes, driveways, and lawns and into a stormwater management system. The City’s storm water management system collects rain and snow runoff in streets or ditches and then directs the water into storm sewer pipes, ponds or drainage ways. These systems eventually discharge the water into ponds, wetlands and the Mississippi River. A system of streets, catch basins and storm ponds have been built in IGH and need to be maintained to control storm water runoff. Managing storm water runoff:

• Protects people
• Protects property
• Reduces insurance risks
• Improves property values
• Protects water quality

There is a cost to control, collect and treat storm water. A storm water utility spreads this cost to all those who contribute to storm water runoff. The money generated by storm water utility fees are used to conduct routine maintenance activities on the existing management system to keep it functional and to maintain water quality benefits. Storm water system maintenance activities include:

• Street sweeping
• Erosion and sedimentation control inspections
• Storm sewer system inspections and repairs
• Stormwater pond and basin cleaning and maintenance
• Drainage ditch mowing, grading and cleaning

In addition to financing maintenance and operation costs, a portion of the revenue generated by storm water fees is utilized by the City to meet the requirements of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MCPA) and other outside agencies related to storm water management. Under these requirements, the City must implement a variety of programs to address and promote storm water pollution prevention. These include the following existing and anticipated programs:

• Water Resources Management Plan
• MS4 General Permit – Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP)
• Lake Pepin Total Maximum Daily Load Implementation Plan

The Inver Grove Heights storm water utility assigns costs to land parcels based on the premise that owners of parcels that have a high percentage of impervious surface, such as commercial and industrial areas, which generate larger volumes of runoff, would be charged more than the owners of land parcels that have a small amount of impervious surface, such as single-family or rural residential areas, which generate less runoff.

The following activities were completed by City staff to establish a storm water rate structure for the City of IGH:

• Grouping parcels into 15 utility groups based on zoning and existing land use.
• Using code-allowed percentage of impervious areas for parcel zoning classifications, calculating storm water runoff volume using actual rainfall for April through November from 1995 to 2004.
• Using one acre of single-family residential property as the reference (given a value of 1.0); the residential equivalency factor (REF) for each utility group was determined by the following ratio:

The runoff volume for an acre of given utility group land  /  The runoff volume of an acre of single-family residential land

• The base fee for a parcel is determined by multiplying the REF by the base rate to get the per acre or per lot charge. The surcharge fee amount is calculated the same way, using the surcharge rate in place of the base rate.
•  The storm water fee structure has three different final rates:
  • Rural Rate: for parcels that are outside the current Municipal Urban Service Area (MUSA) boundary and are zoned as agricultural or estate district, and for undeveloped land in the Northwest Area (NWA).
  • Urban Rate: for parcels within the current Municipal Urban Service Area (MUSA) boundary. 
  • NWA Developed: for developed property in the Northwest Area.  

Rural property is charged the base rate. Urban property is charged the base rate plus the urban surcharge rate. Developed property in the Northwest Area is charged the base rate plus the NWA developed surcharge rate. The fee uses a minimum per-parcel annual fee. This was established to ensure that annual costs for citywide planning/management/permit tasks are covered.

The storm water fee billed to landowners is based on the land use of the property and its location within the City. The land use provides an estimate of the amount of stormwater runoff generated by a given property, which is proportional to the fee that is charged. Developed properties within the Northwest Area are charged different rates than developed properties located in the storm-sewered areas in the remainder of the City. Parcels that are charged on a per-acre basis have their billable acreage reduced by the area of any mapped wetlands on the property.

2024 Storm Water Monthly Rates & Fees

For 2024 storm water utility rates, click here.

2025 Storm Water Monthly Rates & Fees

For 2025 storm water utility rates, click here.

The storm water fee appears as a line item on existing utility customer billing statements. Customers not connected to City water or sanitary sewer are billed either annually or quarterly, based on property classification.

Due to the topographical challenges associated with development in the Northwest Area (NWA), this area has been developed in a manner to fully retain and infiltrate storm water into the ground, as opposed to routing the storm water to the Minnesota or Mississippi rivers, which is more typical of the other “urban” areas of development in Inver Grove Heights. This type of development requires the use of “low-impact” design methods to reduce the potential for flooding while still treating storm water for certain types of surface-level contaminants before infiltrating back into the ground. These design methods require a higher level of maintenance over their lifespan, and as such, require a higher amount of revenue to maintain. Undeveloped properties are treated as "rural" classification properties, but upon development, these properties are charged the NWA rate.

The Storm Water Utility Fee Rates and Structure may be modified based on the storm water needs of the City. Adjustments to the Storm Water Utility Fee Rates and Structure can only be made by the City Council. The fee is reviewed annually as part of the City’s budget process. 

Prior to the development of a storm water utility, the City paid for storm water improvements exclusively via property tax revenue. The establishment of the storm water utility, and the associated fee structure, address two key areas regarding fee equity: 

1. It includes tax-exempt properties in the generation of revenue for operation and maintenance of the system, which benefits all properties (not just taxable properties).
2. It provides diversification of the means of paying for mandated storm water requirements in the event the State Legislature invokes tax levy limits in the future. An established utility would not be affected by such a legislative action.

The land area used to calculate the fee is reduced by the area of any mapped wetlands on a property. This reduces both the base fee, which is charged to all parcels, and the surcharge fee, which is charged to parcels in storm-sewered areas.

The storm water Special Tax District levies will run their full terms. The City currently has three special tax district levies, all of which will expire in 2027. The City could decide to use this funding source for a major storm water management project in the future.

The rain gardens, infiltration swales (narrow, grassy channels), pervious pavements and other features are selected by the developers as part of their overall storm water management plan to meet the required performance standards for development in the Northwest Area. Developers have a list of possible features they can use to meet the standards. They decide which ones they will use and where they are installed. The City reviews and approves a developer’s plan based on the type of development, and verifies that the development meets the City’s requirements for storm water treatment and retention.

If ISD 199 property and City-owned property were not charged a fee, the costs would be shifted to remaining parcels and their fees would increase. The idea behind a storm water utility is that all users contribute to cover the costs of managing storm water in the City.

A separate storm water utility fund account has been established by the City’s Finance Department. Fee revenue is placed in this fund. Budget line-item costs are documented throughout the year.

The fee pays the costs for mandated planning and permit tasks that affect every parcel in the City. It also pays for operation and maintenance of the storm water management system that serves the public streets, which are necessary to access parcels throughout the City. Storm water system upkeep is not limited to pipes and ponds; it includes street sweeping activities, maintenance of ditches, culverts and ravines, and addressing a wide variety of drainage concerns from all types of property across the City. Costs specific to certain areas are reflected in the surcharge portion of the fee for those areas (i.e., Northwest Area), or may be collected via other means, such as special assessments for street and utility projects, or storm water Special Taxing Districts.

Please call the City of Inver Grove Heights with questions at 651-450-2500. 

Yes. Please click here for a printable version of storm water FAQs.

Stormwater is rain and snowmelt that flows off rooftops, driveways, streets, and open land instead of soaking into the ground. In Inver Grove Heights, that runoff is directed into a managed system of pipes, ponds, ditches, culverts, and drainageways that carry water safely to designated waterways, including ponds, wetlands, and ultimately the Mississippi River.

The stormwater utility funds the planning, maintenance, repair, and improvement of this system. It also supports compliance with state and federal water quality requirements.

Stormwater utility activities include:

• Cleaning and repairing pipes, culverts, and ditches
• Maintaining ponds and wetlands
• Erosion and sediment control inspections
• Street sweeping
• Storm sewer inspections and repairs
• Pond and basin cleaning
• Ditch mowing, grading, and stabilization
• Planning for future growth and heavier rain and snowmelt events

Without regular maintenance, heavy rain and snowmelt can lead to flooding, erosion, road damage, and costly emergency repairs. A well-maintained system helps protect homes, businesses, public spaces, and natural resources across the city.

Stormwater rates support a citywide system that benefits the entire community. Rates are also being updated to create a simpler, more transparent, and more equitable system that better reflects how properties contribute to runoff. The previous structure includes 45 different billing rates and custom rates for approximately 200 properties, often with limited or no documentation. This complexity makes the system difficult to explain, administer, and evaluate for fairness.

Using updated technology, the City can now more accurately measure property size and impervious surface areas such as rooftops, driveways, and parking lots. In 2025, a citizen focus group spent six months reviewing rate options and their impacts. They recommended a streamlined structure that is easier to administer and more consistently applied.

Analysis shows that up to one acre of a residential property in Inver Grove Heights typically contains a similar amount of impervious surface, regardless of where it is located in the city.

Because of this, the updated structure establishes a flat rate for the first acre to promote fairness and consistency.

Residential properties larger than one acre generally include more natural or pervious space beyond that first acre. While those areas still generate some runoff, they typically contribute less and are therefore charged at a lower rate.

In keeping the gross and impervious surface area structure, non-residential bills are established based on multiplying both gross (total) area and impervious (hard surfaces) area by their respective unit rates. Unit rates are established by distributing revenue requirements amongst the total area and impervious area of the city, regardless of zoning or land use classifications.

2026 Residential Annual Rate

• $75 flat rate for the first acre
• $0.50 per 1,000 square feet of net area in excess of the first acre

2026 Non-Residential Annual Rate

• $11.96 per 1,000 square feet of impervious surface
• $0.50 per 1,000 square feet of gross area
• Subject to a $75 minimum

Adjustments to stormwater utility rates can only be made by the City Council and are reviewed annually as part of the City's budget process

The new rate structure goes into effect on July 1 and will appear on the next utility bill after that date. If you are currently billed on a quarterly or monthly basis, that will stay the same. If you are currently billed annually for stormwater, your billing cycle will adjust to a quarterly cycle.

Watch for a custom mailing in June with specifics about your rate change and what to expect.

Like many communities, the City is experiencing rising construction and maintenance costs. Portions of the stormwater system are aging and require increased attention to remain reliable.

Current funding does not fully cover long-term system needs. Over time, this has contributed to:

• A growing backlog of deferred maintenance
• Reliance on non-utility funding sources
• A complex rate structure that is difficult to administer
• Inconsistencies across properties that reduce transparency

Addressing these issues now helps reduce the risk of more expensive emergency repairs in the future and supports long-term system sustainability.

Yes. Stormwater infrastructure protects the roads you travel on, the neighborhoods you pass through, and the areas you enjoy throughout the community. Rural areas rely on ditches, culverts, ponds, and natural channels to keep roads and driveways passable and maintain safe access to schools, businesses, and emergency services. Rural rooftops, driveways, and packed gravel roads still create runoff, and many ponds and ditches are still maintained by the City as part of the stormwater system.

Maintaining this infrastructure in both rural and urban parts of the city reduces erosion along roads, prevents localized flooding, and ensures residents in rural areas enjoy safe access and reliable connections, just like those in urban neighborhoods.

Water and sewer utilities manage the water you use inside your home or business.

Stormwater manages rain and snowmelt that fall across the community. It protects streets, neighborhoods, rural roads, and natural areas from flooding and erosion and helps maintain water quality in local ponds, wetlands, and rivers.

Stormwater is funded separately because it serves all properties, regardless of water use.

Even if your property hasn’t flooded, stormwater management is working behind the scenes to protect the community. Roads, neighborhoods, and waterways are part of a connected network, and runoff from one area can affect others. A well-maintained system reduces the risk of future flooding, prevents costly emergency repairs, and keeps the community functioning smoothly for everyone.

Delaying maintenance increases the risk of:

• Flooded streets
• Road and infrastructure damage
• Erosion along ditches and slopes
• Higher emergency repair costs

Proactive maintenance costs less over time and helps avoid disruptions to neighborhoods, travel routes, and city services.

Please call the City of Inver Grove Heights at 651-450-2500.