Marathon supervisors cut $3.6 million from tax levy

Over the course of two days and 10 hours of meetings last week, Marathon County supervisors managed to squeeze over $3.6 million out of the county’s 2023 budget, resulting in a substantially lower tax rate for county property owners than originally anticipated.

Along the way, a proposal to eliminate funding for five non-profit agencies was decisively defeated, and funding cuts to the Marathon County Public Library (MCPL) and the Nurse-Home Partnership (NFP) were drastically scaled back.

As a result of the cuts made, the county’s property tax mil rate dropped from $4.47 per thousand dollars of equalized value down to $4.19. Instead of a $74 tax hike on an “average” county home worth $193,000, the increase will be closer to $20 for 2023.

Overall, the county will collect $54.8 million in property taxes, down from $58.4 million originally proposed. The increase over last year’s tax levy will be 1.7 percent, rather than the 9.4 percent hike first introduced.

The single largest cut came from an amendment introduced by supervisor John Robinson, Wausau, which took $3.3 million in debt payments off the tax levy and directed the county to use 12 percent of its fund balance reserves to pay for it instead. The debt was incurred as the result of renovations at North Central Health Care, but the county has agreed to take on the annual payments until NCHC can recover from COVID-related financial issues.

Robinson’s amendment makes is clear that NCHC and the county will negotiate and sign a new debt repayment plan within 90 days of the budget’s adoption. NCHC will ultimately be responsible for paying back the advance from the county’s general fund.

“Simply put, North Central is putting an IOU in the working capital fund, and they’re going to pay that off over time as they service that debt,” said county administrator Lance Leonhard.

Other budget cuts approved by the board include $140,000 from the NFP program, $69,000 from the MCPL system and $50,000 from the Extension, Education and Economic Development Committee.

Two different amendments were submitted to cut funding from the NFP, which provides in-home support for new mothers and their babies, but in the end, the program was spared a complete withdrawal of its financial support for next year.

An amendment offered by supervisor Gayle Marshall, Weston, would have originally stripped $621,507 from the Health Department’s budget, effectively ending the NFP implementation, but after the board originally approved it, supervisors rescinded it and passed a $140,000 cut. Leonhard said he’s not sure how the cut will impact start-up of the program, which is slated for January of 2023.

Although several supervisors pointed out that NFP is an “evidence-based” program with a long track record of success, Marshall questioned why only eight of Wisconsin’s 72 counties use it.

Marshall pointed out that NFP is a discretionary program, and that its predecessor, Start Right, served 24 women with three or more visits by a public health nurse in 2021. In 2020, 43 women were provided similar assistance, she said. With nearly $730,000 in tax dollars to be spent on the program, she said the perperson cost is “very high,” and questioned whether it serves people throughout the entire county.

“Will this program make people healthier? Yes, it will,” she said. “But so will gym memberships, and we don’t pay for those, and we don’t pay for bariatric surgery, which also makes people healthier.”

The funding cut to NFP came after Jack Hoogendyk, director of the non-profit Hope Life Center, spoke to the board on Nov. 3 about his organization’s ability to deliver similar services, but at no cost to taxpayers or clients. At least one supervisor, Tom Sondelski, said the board should consider Hope Life Center as a replacement to NFP.

However, concerns have been raised about Hope Life Center’s religious mission, and whether it would be appropriate for the county to provide funding for such a group.

Four women spoke against the proposed elimination of NSP at a Human Resources, Finance and Capital Committee meeting on Nov. 9. Each of them cited concerns with a faith-based organization taking over the county’s pregnancy support role.

Christine Salm, Wausau, said Hope Life Center lacks the training and experience to replace the care offered by NSP. Instead, she said Hope provides “faith-based anti-abortion information and religious counseling.”

“If the clients continue their pregnancy, they offer resources, like formula and diapers, but only if they take part in the religious programs,” she claimed.

Christine Martens, Wausau, said she has filed a complaint with the Freedom From Religion Foundation over the board’s consideration of Hope Life Center for pregnancy services.

“It is not the place of Marathon County to be referring people to a service built on a religious foundation,” she said. “It is naive to think their services can be provided without proselytizing.”

Supervisor Michelle Van Krey, Wausau, said she doesn’t like the idea of possibly replacing NFP with a non-profit without first consulting with the board of health or discussing it as a full county board. She also questioned whether the board would want to abruptly cut off people who are currently using the county’s pregnancy support services.

“If that is the intent of this amendment, I will caution you that this board has made no decision to fund any other organization,” she said.

Marshall denied there was any intent behind her motion to redirect the funds to another organization.

Supervisor Crystal Bushman, Wittenberg, said she’s been a nurse for 20 years and thinks the NFP’s cost per nurse is “very high.” Instead, she suggested getting “free labor” from students at the local nursing college who are looking for experience.

Supervisor Yee Leng Xiong, Weston, defended NFP. He said it is used in 40 states and studies have shown that each family that participates sees benefits equaling $60,000. He said the county has already saved money by switching from Start Right to NFP and will save another $646,476 once start-up costs are eliminated after next year.

On top of a $350,000 cut by the county administrator and 2.3 percent reduction in operating expenses, the MCPL lost another $69,000 in funding during last Thursday’s county board meeting.

Library funding came under greater scrutiny recently after several citizens complained about allegedly “pornographic” material being available in the libraries. Some supervisors subsequently criticized the library board for taking too long to review the challenged books.

Supervisor Chris Dickinson, Stratford, originally offered an amendment to cut another $365,000 from the library system’s budget, but after lengthy conversations last week, that cut was taken down to $69,000.

Dickinson cited the library’s slow response to the controversial books issue as one reason he was looking for cuts. He also pointed out that the library system consistently comes in significantly under budget and has amassed a fund balance of $719,000.

Sharon Hunter, library board president, told board members last week that rollover funds are set aside for capital projects, such as remodeling the Wausau’s library third floor and purchasing a new book sorter for $90,000. She also said the cuts to the library’s personnel budget would be difficult to absorb considering that seven of the eight branch locations only have two part-time staff each.

“So, if we have to layoff staff at our branches, most likely that branch will have to close,” she said.

Supervisor Kody Hart, who grew up in Athens, said he’s worried that any amount of funding cuts will affect the rural libraries most, depriving residents of services like internet access and tax preparation.

“With the reduction, it could really hurt these communities,” he said.

Non-profit cuts denied

An overwhelming majority of supervisors rejected an attempt by Dickinson to eliminate funding for five different non-profits, which would have saved the county a total of $198,133 next year.

The targeted non-profits include The Women’s Community, United Way 211, Marathon County His- torical Society, North Central Community Action Program, and Wisconsin Judicare. All of these groups have performance-based contracts with the county, which are regularly reviewed by the county administrator.

Dickinson said these organizations are doing “wonderful work,” but he and other supervisors don’t agree with giving them tax dollars.

“I don’t believe in governments funding non-profits as a general principle,” he said. “That takes money out of someone’s pocket and puts it into the pocket of an organization they may not want to support.”

Dickinson said the funding provided by the county represents relatively small portions of the non-profits’ budgets, and he thinks they could make it up with some effort.

Supervisor John Robinson said the board needs to seriously consider the impact a funding cut would have on organizations that help the county fulfill its mission by working with agencies such as the district attorney’s office and health department. He said the sudden withdrawal of funds could jeopardize the groups’ existence and result in the county having to hire more staff to fill in the gaps in service. “I think these are worthwhile investments, and they truly are partners in delivering services to our residents,” he said.

Randy Westgate of Wisconsin Judicare, told board members last week that his agency’s mediation services cleared 250 civil cases from the court docket this year – mostly evictions and small-claims – saving the county money and freeing up judges to focus on criminal proceedings. Other non-profit representatives have also spoken to the board about the work they do.

Several supervisors said they’d be willing to discuss the county’s funding of non-profits again next year, but they did not want to abruptly eliminate financial support. Supervisor Jacob Langenhahn, Marathon, said he supports efforts to reconsider county funding for non-profits, but he objected to doing so without engaging in dialogue with them first.

“This is wrong,” he said. “It does not pass the smell test.”

A motion to pass Dickinson’s amendment failed, 5-31, with the yes votes coming from Dickinson; Joel Straub, Kronenwetter; Tim Soldenski, Mosinee; Dennis Gonnering, Marshfield; and Bobby Niemeyer, Wausau.