The Shawano Common Council approved its 2026 budget Nov. 18, which comes with an increase in the property tax rate and the likelihood of a property revaluation next year.
The city’s portion of the tax rate was $9.10 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in 2025 but will increase to $9.42, which means the owner of a $200,000 piece of property will see city taxes go from $1,820 to $1,884 if the property value remains the same. The overall taxes will increase 60 cents per $1,000 due to increased rates in taxes from Shawano County and the technical college system. Shawano School District taxes remained flat.
Only about 35% of the city’s budget is covered by the local tax levy, according to Brian Della, finance director. The levy for 2026 will be just shy of $6.26 million, an increase of 2.49%, or $151,786. The general levy will increase $57,899, while the debt service levy will increase $93,887. The levy increase for municipalities is limited by the state.
“There would be a negative impact if we issued too much debt service,” Della said.
The plans to do the revaluation come as a result of the city’s assessed property values coming out of alignment with the state’s equalized values, which are used by counties, school districts and other entities that tax areas covering multiple municipalities. When the city did its last revaluation in 2023, the ratio of assessed values to equalized values was 83.23%. Once the revaluation was done, the values were close together, but now the values are 85.18% locally compared with the equalized values.
“From 2015 to 2022 … the city and the state had pretty similar views. They did not see equalized value as being materially different from assessed value,” Della said. “Then in 2022, the state raised it by 21% there, so all of a sudden the city’s assessed value was only 83% of the state’s value.”
The revaluation does not mean that taxes are going to go up substantially due to the state’s levy limits where the operational levy can go up 1-2%,Della said.
“We’re still going to be raising taxes in that $150,000 range (to the levy),” Della said. “Even though people might see a substantial increase in their assessed values, the amount of dollars that are going to be spread around will be in that $150,000 range.”
Besides the local tax levy, the city receives revenue from state aid, public charges for service, special assessments like the wheel tax, grants, utility funds and cab fares. With the airport, the city also gets revenue from fuel sales and hangar rentals.
The city’s total budget of $9.7 million for 2026 is balanced, according to Della, as both property taxes and state-shared revenues are up. The budget includes the full costs of renovating the Shawano Recreation Center, he said, even though construction work started in June of this year. More than $1 million is from city funds, but the remaining $4.25 million comes from a state grant.
Other notable things about this year’s budget include:
• The city’s health insurance went up slightly, but the surcharge for the city was reduced to 50%.
• Cost-of-living adjustments were given to employees. Police pay is going up 3.5%, while the non-unionized city positions are getting a 4% bump in pay.
• The city is holding one position in the public works department open for 2026.
• One public works employee was moved to the finance department.
City Administrator Eddie Sheppard said the city’s been able to be more efficient in its operations, but some of the factors are outside of its control. Health insurance, for example, can be a volatile expense, but the city’s decision last year to become part of a group insurance system has kept premiums and other costs from spiking.
“That has allowed us to budget more comfortably but never too comfortably, because next year may be completely different,” Sheppard said.
Prior to the council’s vote, Alderman Kevin Barkow praised the work done and said that Della presented a “user friendly budget.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
