Marathon County proposes mil rate drop, tax increase

By Kevin O’Brien

When broken down into a monthly amount, Marathon County’s 2025 tax bill for the average homeowner next year won’t be much different than what most people pay for the smartphone in their pockets, according to county administrator Lance Leonhard.

“I know a lot of people that pay more for their monthly cell phone bill than what they pay when you break out your annual property tax bill on a monthly basis,” he said last week during a presentation of the proposed 2025 budget. “I think that speaks to the value that we get from funding our 22 departments and four intergovernmental agencies.”

With the county’s mil rate poised to drop by as much as 21 cents, from $3.99 to $3.78 per thousand dollars of property value, and the overall levy expected to increase by 3 percent, the county’s portion of the tax bill for an “average” homeowner is expected to increase by about $24 in 2025, according to the proposed budget. The amount of county taxes on an average home worth $232,469 in 2025 would be just shy of $879 – or $73.25 a month in Leonhard’s cell phone bill analogy. With everything that is paid for with property taxes and other revenues, from county highways and sheriff’s deputies to parks and social services, “that’s a pretty substantial value,” he said.

The proposed 2025 budget, as developed

See MARATHON BUDGET/ Page 9

Lance Leonhard Marathon budget

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by Leonhard and county department heads, was officially accepted by the Human Resources, Finance and Property Committee last Wednesday, and on Monday, the committee convened again to approve the proposal for publication, with just one amendment related to economic development that would raise the mil rate to $3.79.

Marathon County’s tax rate has been on a downward trend for years, mostly due to increases in equalized property value from one year to the next, but tax bills continue to inch up for most property owners due to the steady climb in property values. As a general rule, the mil rate (taxes per thousand dollars of property value) goes down as property values go up.

This year, for example, equalized property values went up by about 9 percent across the county – $1.4 billion total – which equates to an $18,232 increase in value for an average home worth $214,238 in 2024. By applying the new mil rate of $3.78 to a property worth $232,469 in 2025, the tax bill goes up 2.8 percent.

Leonhard noted that some property owners will see their overall county tax bill go down, but only if their individual property value increases by no more than $30.

The total amount of property taxes to be collected by the county next year is expected to increase by about $1.7 million, which includes the operating levy, money for debt payments and for the library system and bridge and culvert aid.

From the taxpayer’s perspective, Leonhard said Marathon County is in “a very good spot” compared to surrounding counties and other similar-sized counties in Wisconsin. He noted that the county’s per capita property tax rate is 16th lowest in the state, and per capita county expenditures are 13th lowest.

“Marathon County is very intentional with its budgeting, very intentional with its spending, and we do provide a high-value service relative to costs,” he said.

A budget hearing will be held on Friday, Nov. 1, at 3 p.m., and after that, supervisors will have until Nov. 8 to submit another round of amendments for consideration on Nov. 11, when the budget is scheduled for adoption.

Budget highlights

As directed by the county board earlier this year, Leonhard said the 2025 budget proposal includes no new borrowing, no new positions paid for by taxes and no use of working capital reserves to meet expenses.

On the revenue side, the budget includes a conservative estimate of $16 million in sales tax revenues, which is the same as this year’s budgeted amount. Although the projected tax collections are over $17 million for 2024, Leonhard said it’s better to underestimate the amount of sales tax dollars than to overestimate and then have to make cuts midway through the year.

The county will also receive a total of $7.5 million in state aid next year, which is an increase of about $200,000 over this year. Leonhard said the county appreciates recent legislation that boosted shared revenue, but state aid is still not keeping up with inflation.

In order to help cover the rising cost of goods and services without resorting to larger tax hikes, the 2025 budget also increases rates and fees charged for specific services. Many of these amounts are set to go up by 3 percent next year.

On the expense side, the largest category continues to be staff compensation and benefits. The total payroll for the county’s roughly 789 full-time equivalent employees will be $72 million next year, 60 percent of which is paid for by local property taxes.

“Our employees are our most valuable asset,” Leonhard said. “When we talk about doing local government work, county government work, it is a service business, and we require highly qualified, highly intelligent, hard-working people to do that work.”

With the county board previously authorizing 3 percent maximum raises for 2025, the total impact on the tax levy will be $1.3 million. Leonhard said the raises are “absolutely necessary” for the county to stay competitive in a tight labor market.

Another major expense is health insurance for employees, which is projected to increase by 6.5 percent in 2025. Leonhard said the county’s share of premiums will be $13 million next year, an increase of about $750,000 over this year. The impact could have been much worse, he said, noting that many counties are bracing for a 20 percent hike in health insurance next year, which would equate to $2.3 million extra for Marathon County.

Leonhard reminded supervisors that all of these increased costs, while necessary to retain employees, need to be paid for with just a $1 million allowable increase in the operational tax levy, which corresponds to a 1.78 increase in net new construction within the county.

Department heads have taken many steps to “budget tighter,” he said, including a proposal to set aside at least $400,000 a year to pay for out-of-home placements for at-risk youth, which cost nearly $500,000 per year for youths at Lincoln Hills Correctional Facility or $600,000 at Level 5 foster homes.

Leonhard said Social Services normally spends about $6 million a year for out-ofhome placements, but he’s budgeting $5.8 million for next year with $400,000 in reserves set aside.

“Budgets don’t determine placements,” he said. “Judges determine placements based on the needs of kids.”

Leonhard also told supervisors that he did not include any money in his proposed budget for several high-profile items, including broadband internet expansion, childcare, workforce housing, redevelopment of county-owned properties, homelessness and economic development.

“That does not mean there is no opportunity for you to fund those,” he told members of the HRFC, pointing to a passage in his budget address that says the board could reallocate sales tax dollars to pay for these priorities, but that would result in an increase in property tax dollars needed for debt payments in 2025.

Capital improvements plan

Deputy administrator Chris Holman went over the list of capital improvement projects planned for 2025, which total about $33 million if you include projects paid for by the Central Wisconsin Airport and the Solid Waste Department. About half of that total, around $16 million, is funded by the previous year’s budget rollovers, the 2025 tax levy, highway reserves, registration fees and other revenues.

Some of the larger projects include replacement of the bridge over the Big Rib River on CTH A, just east of CTH H in the town of Hamburg, for nearly $550,000, and the resurfacing of CTH H, from STH 29 south through Edgar to CTH N, for about $830,000. Another high-dollar project involves upgrading the Highway Department shops to salt brining operations, which will replace rock salt for ice removal on highways, at a cost of $945,000.

Other, smaller projects include replacing the splash pad at Marathon Park for $375,000, upgrading the county phone system for $380,000 and replacing large culverts on CTH F east of Unity and on CTH Q on the east side of the county for $335,000.