I watched five hours of Wausau Budget meetings so you don't have to

Wausau tax rates are decreasing, Wausau considers a wheel tax, some cuts are coming, and more

Budget season is one of the areas where I think The Wausonian really shines. There really isn’t another outlet that I’ve seen dive into budgets the way we have.

And that matters. A) A municipality’s budget has a direct impact on how much you’re taxed; B) the budget determines how your tax dollars are spent; C) it can give you a sense of where mayor’s and elected leaders’ priorities lie.

Wausau presents its budget a little differently than other. While people such as Marathon County Administrator Lance Leonhard do a pretty good job boiling down the highlights, Finance Director MaryAnne Groat tends to just present everything at once in no particular order of importance in a series of budget workshops, with no supporting materials available online (A draft budget was quietly added Friday and after raising a stink I was provided some materials). So a journalist needs to take good notes, and spend some time thinking about context.

It took me far longer than it should have to put this together, but there is a lot of info that came out from these meetings in areas tangential to the budget that are just interesting in and of themselves.

Early budget highlights

• Tax rates in the city are dropping too: First the school district, then the county, and now the city! Tax rates are expected to drop in the city, and by quite a bit. Last year the rate was $10.86 per $1,000 of property valuation, and this year with equalized value, the rates are expect to be $8.72. That’s a $2 drop. For the owner of a home valued at $200,000, that’s a $400 drop in taxes. (Later on Groat will talk about the equalized value version of the tax rate which is less impressive but still a drop. No other municipality I’ve seen presents two different sets of numbers and it’s confusing. I’m told the equalized value rate is the one that matters.)

• BUT: The city went through a revaluation this year, and that means pretty much everyone’s property values went up. So depending on how much a city of Wausau resident’s property values went up, their tax bill could be higher or lower than usual.

• Police see the biggest jump: The Police Department will see the biggest capital budget increase overall, Groat says. The department’s budget increases include things such as body cameras, radios and other equipment. The bulk of the change, Deputy Chief Todd Baeten says, comes from the digital evidence management system. The police department locked in a 10-year contract with its vendor because the last time it had a five-year contract costs doubled when the contract was over. The 10-year contract would hopefully save the city money.

• TIF, TIF: The city’s TIF District No. 8 is expected to spend more than $4 million including projects related to infrastructure around the mall. They include a retaining wall and siphon project on Washington Street, concrete repairs and potential acquisition of the MBX properties, particularly the property west of the Wisconsin River. Obtaining that property would allow the city to finally connect the River’s Edge Trail on the west side of the river. Revenues from the district should cover the projects’ funding. (NOTE: Clarified this paragraph to read that the projects are infrastructure related to the mall, not involving the mall itself.)

• TIF too: TIF District No. 12 is the only district that’s currently underwater and not doing well, Groat says. It was created for the mall demo and to incentivize development (The Foundry on Third project is currently under construction). It also is funding some of the expenses from Wausau Chemical’s move from the riverfront to the business park. Groat says she is working with outside legal counsel to see if they can shift the Wausau Chemical expenses to another district. And it’s likely the lack of development in the RiverLife development area along the river (several projects have fallen through in recent times) hasn’t helped the district recover.

• The garbage contract is coming to an end: Groat says the city’s contract with Harter’s Fox Valley Disposal increases 2% per year. But, that contract is coming to an end at the end of next year. That means the city will need to decide what to do about garbage for 2026.

• Net new construction was OK: This year the city saw 2.46% - which isn’t bad. But it’s far less than last year, when the city saw 4.35% net new construction. Since levy limit formulas take net new construction into account, the more the better for city coffers.

• TIF growth slowed, but for a reason: Property value growth dropped in the city’s TIF districts, but that’s because the personal property tax — the tax businesses pay on all the gizmos inside a property (it was complicated because a number of exceptions had been added over the years) — was eliminated this year.

• The bill for the new positions is coming due: The city added several police and fire positions — 16 all told — that had alternative funding sources. But those are usually short-lived, and those positions are expected to add $1.6 million to the budget.

• The big, dark cloud: Groat says there is a big, dark cloud coming - an increase in expenses of $6 million over last year.

Some cuts ahead

The city heading into Wednesday’s meeting needed to cut around $200,000 from its budget. That’s because besides levy limits, there is also an expenditure constraint. So more revenue doesn’t impact the expenditure constraint since it’s only on the expense side. Not hitting that limit reduces the city’s ability to qualify for additional state aid.

Mayor Doug Diny challenged departments to cut 2.5% from their budgets in order to help meet those restraints. The list of cuts and revenue increases also includes a wheel tax. Here are some of the things they came up with, and how the Finance Committee responded: