Marshfield council approves 2020 budget
For Hub City Times
MARSHFIELD – On Nov. 26, the Marshfield Common Council approved a city budget for 2020 totaling just over $46.9 million that includes a larger than usual 3 percent property tax increase.
City Finance Director Ron Aumann says that even with the increase, the city’s tax levy is still well in line with the other entities who make up a resident’s tax bill including: Marathon and Wood counties, Mid-State Technical College, and the Marshfield School District.
Aumann said that, “Based on preliminary numbers, it looks like our increase of 3 percent is going to come in under both counties, well under the tech., and slightly above the school levy.”
Marshfield City Administrator Steve Barg has said that the larger than usual increase is due in part to a tax rate that’s been kept too low, for too long.
“We have under-levied for quite a while,” Barg explained. “From 2005 to 2018, we have had a total increase in the tax rate of just under 4 percent over 14 years. And as a result of that, we’re starting this year at $9.26 per thousand of value, while our neighbors in Point, Rapids, and Wausau are well above that.”
The new tax rate will go up 28 cents per thousand dollars of assessed property value, from $9.26, to $9.54 per thousand.
Just a few of the items funded in that budget include more “overlays” and other street repairs, and a 1 percent pay raise for city of Marshfield employees.
That budget and tax rate increase passed by a vote of 8 to 2, with Alders Rebecca Spiros and Adam Fischer voting “no.”