County admin expects lower tax rate, tighter budget
By Kevin O’Brien
At multiple committee meetings last week, county administrator Lance Leonhard told supervisors to expect a substantial decrease in the county’s property tax rate for 2025, but he also warned them about the tightening constraints of state-imposed levy limits.
“Levy limits are really having a substantial impact on county operations,” Leonhard told members of the Infrastructure Committee last Thursday, echoing comments he made at other committee meetings.
Under the levy limits, the county can only increase the amount of property taxes it collects by the percentage of net new construction this past year – about 1.78, or roughly $1 million. The county will also receive an additional $120,000 in shared revenue from the state, Leonhard said.
With 750 fulltime county employees, Leonhard said it is extraordinarily difficult just to provide annual raises and also pay for increases in health insurance premiums with the money coming in every year. Add in the cost of inflation for goods and services, and it becomes even harder for the county to make ends meet, he said.
“That is not sustainable,” he told the Infrastructure Committee last Thursday.
That is why Leonhard said he has asked all county departments to strive for a zero percent increase in their annual budgets for the past four years. It’s also why the county board is being asked to consider increasing fees for county services, or even creating new charges.
The good news for taxpayers is that continued growth in the county’s equalized property values – not new construction – has allowed the county board to lower the county’s mil rate. This year’s rate is $3.99 per thousand dollars of property value ($399 for a $100,000 home), and Leonhard said he expects it to drop by at least another 15 cents for next year’s tax bills.
“In the northern portion of Wisconsin, Marathon County has one of the lowest, if not the lowest, tax rate,” he said. “That is a good thing, but it also demonstrates the challenge that levy limits pose.”
It’s important to note that a lower mil rate does not necessarily translate to smaller tax bills. Because the county’s total tax levy is tied to equalized property values, taxpayers can still end up paying more if their property value goes up from one year to the next.
To keep costs under control while still retaining quality staff, the county board has directed Leonhard not to include new positions paid for by tax dollars in the 2025 budget, while also providing a 3 percent across-the-board raise for existing employees.
Leonhard said he has not received any additional directives from any of the county’s standing committees to either eliminate existing programs or create new ones. He did point out that the Health Department is asking for $12,000 more to do additional water testing at county beaches next year and is also partnering with the city of Wausau to reduce lead drinking water pipes using grant funds.
Some expenses remain impossible to predict. At an Oct. 2 meeting of the Health and Human Services Committee, Leonhard told supervisors that out-of-home placements for endangered youth can cost as much as $600,000 per year, so Social Services has decided to start setting aside at least $400,000 in unspent funds every year to blunt the possible hit to the tax levy.
“We needed to budget tighter,” he said. “I think this is an innovative way.”
Leonhard also told the various committees that the county will continue to make investments in its facilities, especially those at or near the end of their useful life cycle.
“Deferring maintenance is not a longterm fiscally responsible decision,” he said.
Lance Leonhard
