Council approves tax levy

The Rhinelander Common Council voted unanimously Monday to adopt the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget and approve a tax levy of $6,172,164.

The general levy is listed in the city’s budget overview as $4.8 million, the airport levy is $197,081, the library levy is $295,973 and the debt service levy is $879,110 for a total of $6,172,164.

The city tax rate is listed at 11.72800, meaning the owner of a $100,000 home can expect to pay $1,172.80 in city taxes next year, up $37 from last year.

“The City’s 2024 tax levy amount is $6,172,164, which is $189 less than 2023,” city finance director Wendi Bixby wrote in her monthly report to the council. “The statement of assessment with manufacturing for 2024 is $586,098,400, which is $6,838,700 more than 2023. The City’s portion of the tax rate is increasing 3.29% or $37 per $100,000 property value. The transition of repealing the personal property tax assessment to receiving property tax aid through the state is a contributor of the increase.”

In a memo to the council, city administrator Patrick Reagan recommended investigating a potential public safety millage. 

“Wendi Bixby, the city’s finance director — as well as city department heads — have worked diligently to provide you with a very sound budget for your review and approval,” he wrote to the alders. “As stated before, the General Fund is becoming tighter and tighter each year. It is my recommendation that the City of Rhinelander investigate a potential public safety millage, as the budgets for police and fire account for nearly 50% of the general fund’s budget. Furthermore, both police and fire need a new building, due to the antiquated age and poor condition of their current shared building, and the rough estimates for the cost of a new building is between $10-15 million. These factors must be seriously considered as the City moves forward.”

Reagan made a similar statement during the meeting.

“There’s a lot of things to think about. One of the things that we’ve talked about internally is would a police, a public safety millage be something to look at, go to referendum for it,” he said. “I hate to be the next guy in town that says that, but there are certain realities here. Just so you know, right now we’re in the contract negotiations with both the police and the fire department (unions). So that’s going to weigh into it too. Police and fire need a new building, which we’ve talked about before. That is not going to be a low cost endeavor. So there’s going to be decisions that you all are going to have to make that we are going to present to you that may not be really feel good ones, but you’re paying us to be honest with you in here. We are being honest with you. So expect next year to be tighter...”

Alderman Gerald Anderson said the city has to find a way to increase revenue.

“And it seems like in this state, if the state is not going to follow through on its contributions to cities, then referendums are the only way to go,” he said. “And, uh, obviously the school district is already planning to have one in the spring election. I wouldn’t want to mess with that at this point, but we do need, if we’re going to go that way, we need to give some strong consideration to it early next year so that we’d be ready to do it as soon as possible...”

Reagan also advised the council that the administrative team had found a way to ensure city employees will have the same level of health insurance coverage next year despite rising costs.

“Per Council direction, the Finance Director and I worked to find cuts to the proposed budget that will allow for the same health insurance coverage (coinsurance 100% after deductible and therefore the same maximum out-of-pocket costs as in the current year) for city employees, he wrote in the memo.

A streets mechanic position that’s been vacant “for quite some time” was eliminated to balance the budget, he explained.

“I will advise that this will likely be an issue again when we prepare the 2026 budget as I am expecting health insurance costs to see another double-digit increase,” he continued. “With no increased revenue streams, taxes staying flat, and costs for equipment, materials, and employees continuing to rise each year, budget cuts will be a necessary reality in the coming years.”

During the budget discussion, it was noted that a proposed $20,000 cut to the airport budget was ultimately nixed. Also, the city chose to reduce its planned cut to the Oneida County Economic Development Corporation. 

Instead of a $13,000 cut, the city’s OCEDC contribution was reduced by $6,000.

Readers are encouraged to view the entire Nov. 11 budget discussion at www.hodagtv.com for more information and context. All of the budget hearings the city held over the last few weeks are also available to view at www.hodagtv.com.

Heather Schaefer may be reached at [email protected]