Shawano council approves $14.3M budget

The Shawano Common Council approved a budget of almost $14.3 million on Nov. 16, and even though the city’s taxes are increasing for property owners, residents should see an overall drop on their tax rate.

The city tax rate is going from $9.90 per $1,000 of assessed valuation this year to $10.67, which means the owner of a $100,000 property can expect to pay $1,067 in city taxes alone.

However, a steep drop in the tax rate for Shawano School District has positioned city property owners to pay $2,339.80 on that same $100,000 property in 2023 when the tax impact in 2022 was $2,362.53.

The reason the city’s tax rate is increasing while the school district’s is dropping is due to the method of property valuations. The school district bases its tax rate off of the equalized value of property, which jumped up $126.2 million in the last year. The city tax rate is based on a property’s assessed value, which only saw a $5.6 million increase.

“Some years are easier than others,” said City Administrator Eddie Sheppard in describing the process of piecing together the 2023 city budget. “This year presented some challenges for us, but ultimately, I think it was a great process. Working with staff is always a pleasure.”

The equalized value adds about 15% more to property values, something Sheppard hasn’t seen in the nearly 10 years he’s been with the city.

“Unfortunately, as a city, we don’t budget on equalized value,” he said. “Only our TIFs do, and so we didn’t see the benefit of the increase.”

As a result, the city is looking at a revaluation in 2023 in the hopes of getting the equalized and assessed values back in line with each other. Sheppard noted the city would not do a full revaluation but instead do a market-rate analysis, because it will produce the same results but not cost the city as much.

“A full revalue would cost the city about $150,000, but we’re only looking at $48,000 (for the market analysis),” he said.

The total levy for the city increased by $518,540 to almost $6.4 million, which include a 35% hike from the Tax Increment Finance District levy, according to Sheppard. The city was also able to find about $230,000 in revenues not connected to the levy, which will help deal with some of the city’s increased costs.

“Things are costing more,” Sheppard said. “We are not immune from that.”

The biggest slice of the pie remains public safety, which covers police, fire and building inspections. That takes up 26% of the budget, with almost $3.7 million geared toward it. Sheppard said that makes sense, as the police and fire departments are 24-7 services while the other departments work fewer hours.

“There’s significantly more cost to manpower to run a police department than some of our other services,” Sheppard said.

Capital improvements and equipment suck up 20% of the budget, and the city’s general obligation debt service takes a similar amount. Public works takes up 13%, while city hall contributes 12%. Another 7% is earmarked for parks and recreation, which also covers the civic center and Woodlawn Cemetery.

This year’s budget is including a 4% wage increase for all city employees. That could have been muted by higher health care increases, as the city was originally looking at a 19% increase in its insurance plans, but that was reconfigured to a high-deductible setup that resulted in only a 4.1% increase for the city, according to Sheppard.

“We had an initial scare with insurance when we got our renewals coming back to the tune of about a 19% increase,” he said, noting the city could no longer ride out keeping with a low deductible. “Only 4.1% in this climate is about as good as you’re going to get.”

The 2023 budget also includes no staffing changes for next year, with no new positions or positions being eliminated.

The capital improvement projects slated for 2023 include mill and overlay work on County Road B from Main Street to Waukechon Street in partnership with Shawano County, as well as on Waukechon Street from Green Bay Street to Lieg Avenue. The latter project will be a $1.3 million joint effort with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, with the city only have to pay 20% of the expenses.

“Anytime we can bring that outside money and leverage what we have benefits us greatly,” Sheppard said.

The city also has street reconstruction projects planned for Weed and River streets.

“Those areas were hit particularly hard with the lead line replacements, so there’s a lot of holes in the roads,” Sheppard said. “We’ve also had some utility issues down there that we’ve wanted to deal with for a long time. We felt like it was a good year to do this.”

Sheppard added that the capital improvement projects for 2023 are light in order to prepare the city for some major projects coming up after, including work on West Green Bay Street.

Efforts to renovate the community room and council chambers at City Hall originally slated for 2022 are back in the 2023 budget, with Sheppard noting most of the work will be done in house when bids for the project came back significantly higher than what was budgeted.

“I cannot wait for the council to see the council chamber desk that you’re going to be at in a few months,” Sheppard said. “It’s going to be absolutely gorgeous.”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com