WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- Wausau residents spoke out about the proposed 2015 budget Tuesday night, and most of the comments criticized the mayor’s proposed tax increase.
The proposed budget is for a tax levy of 24-million 567-thousand 711 dollars, which is nearly 985-thousand dollars more than this year’s budget. That is about a four and a half percent jump in property taxes, which filled council chambers with unhappy residents.
Resident Matt Kaiser questioned the efforts of the city leaders to keep taxes and expenses down. "This budget is skirting the levy limits on a technicality due to debt service, and it’s increasing the levy by two and a half times our growth rate and inflation. Really? I mean, that’s the best we can do as this body, as a city staff of paid professionals? In a business like where I work, you’d be fired for that kind of performance.” Kaiser said, “We need to bring businesses here with a lower tax rate, and I don’t see who’s going to volunteer to move a business here for the highest taxes in the land. Our problem is that the city hall and the council, and the leaders are addicted to spending, and it’s time to check yourselves into detox.”
Kim Schoenberg drew a few chuckles from the audience when she expressed her displeasure with the tax increase. “Benjamin Franklin said, ‘In this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.’ Today, death is looking quite appealing.”
Deb Ryan told the city council that part of the problem is the tax code, and how it puts too much of the burden on homeowners. “The state undervalues manufacturing, and so in the long run, it’s the residents that own homes that are picking up a bigger piece of the city budget, and it’s unacceptable.”
Bruce Trueblood criticized the Mayor and council for believing they should just go back to the taxpayers every time they want money. “Our system’s aging. My house is nearly 100 years old, yet I’m expected to maintain it, and I’m expected to figure that into my budget. I don’t just get to go to my boss and say, hey, I need five percent extra because I’ve got to maintain my house.”
One resident supports the budget. He's retired Wausau Public Works Director Joe Gehin, who reminded the council that aging infrastructure has to be taken care of. “Our storm sewer is not alone. We have roads we all complain about. That’s aging infrastructure. That costs money. We have utilities, water and sewer. Again, aging infrastructure. These have to be addressed. It would be foolhardy not to take care of those, and it’s not just Wausau, it’s national.”
City Council members did very little talking and a lot of listening. One of the opponents on the council is Finance Committee Chairman Keene Winters. “The county has cut property taxes. The school has taken a turn at cutting property taxes. The tech district (Northcentral Technical College) has taken a turn at cutting property taxes, so all of those contribute to your bill and that has gone down, but in the past five years, the city has not reduced your property taxes in a single year, where in fact, (we) stand out as the only single jurisdiction that hasn’t been able to reduce your taxes in the post-Act 10 world.” Winters has been critical of the city's spending for a long time, and believes this budget is unacceptable. “Yes, I still think a 4.2% budget increase is too much. It’s three times the rate of inflation. We can do better than that.”
Winters suggests looking at a recent La Crosse model as a possible way to save money. “We have a property inspection department and a fire inspection department. It’s two separate inspection departments. If they were rolled into one, that could be a way to save money. Our neighbors Weston and Rib Mountain have implemented a paid on-call system, so they have, just like our police department has community service officers, temporary employees that help supplement their workload, we also could have contingent employees in the fire department that could help supplement their workload. That could be a cost savings.”
City Council President Romey Wagner says the city needs to keep what is necessary and cut things that they can do without for now. “Yes, we need to look at trying to find something to cut out of it. I’m all for having a strong police and fire department, but there are other things we’ve got to dig into. We have two weeks. We need to come up with how to get it back to a zero increase. I’ve always said that.” Wagner believes reaching agreement on a zero-increase budget will be hard. “I believe it has to be possible, but whether we can get six people to agree on the way to do it I think is the biggest problem.”
The City Council will vote on a final 2015 budget November 25th.
(Listen to our interviews with Romey Wagner and Keene Winters on our website. Just click the links on their names.)