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News

State delays county budget

By BRIAN LEAHY
of The Gazette
The Legislature hasn't adopted Wisconsin's 2002-03 biennial budget, leaving Portage County officials wondering what impact the state budget will have locally.

Members of the county's Finance and Personnel committees began work on the county's 2002 budget at a joint meeting Wednesday, July 11. They set a tentative schedule event and reviewed budget guidelines.

Not knowing exactly how much money is coming into county coffers, the two committees adopted a moratorium on all new employee positions and initiatives that aren't funded by outside sources, such as grants.

Much of the financial information won't be known until Aug. 10, when the county receives equalized property valuation information from the state, county finance director Bo DeDeker said. He also estimated the county could see a 5 percent decrease in state aids, but that number won't be known until a state budget is adopted.

"We really don't know what the state is going to do," said County Board Chairman Clarence Hintz. "Everybody tells us it's not going to be good."

Hintz has heard the decrease in state aids could be as much as 15 percent, so he recommended the county be prepared for the worst-case scenario.

The 2001 county budget was $79.9 million. Revenue sources funding this year's budget include a $16.1 million property tax levy, $30.5 million in intergovernmental revenues, $3.9 million in county sales tax, $7.6 million in public charges for services and $13.6 million in intergovernmental charges.

A proposal before the Legislature exempting forestland from property taxes could cause the county to "really get hammered," supervisor James Gifford said.

The forest land exemption follows the state implementation last year of full-use value plan for agriculture land. Farmland is now assessed at its value as farmland, instead its higher monetary value as developed land. That change took about $98 million off the county's property tax rolls, DeDeker said during 2000 budget deliberations.

One reason for the big push in exempting forestland is to prevent damage to trees that has happened since some state farmers began grazing livestock in their woodlots, so they could claim the parcels was being used as agricultural land. Assembly Bill 247 would redefine agricultural land for property tax purposes so that for every acre of agricultural land a person owns, nine-tenths of an acre of productive forestland, swamp or wasteland is taxed as agricultural land, provided it is contiguous to agricultural land owned by the same person.

"(Forest land) could come off the tax rolls. They've really got some strong lobbying going on," Hintz said.

Before the committees adopted the nonfunded new position and initiative moratorium, DeDeker suggested the county adopt a tax rate freeze for 2002, especially since some towns, like Eau Pleine and Dewey, saw big increases in the property valuation this year. If state aids are favorable and this year's equalized property valuation information from the state shows an increase, the county could still raise its property tax levy while maintaining this year's property tax rate of $5.33 per $1,000, which was a 6 percent increase compared to the $5.02 per $1,000 tax rate in 1998.

In the last three years, the property tax levy (not the tax rate) has increased 24 percent, DeDeker said. The property tax levy in 2001 was 16,175,314, while in 1998 the levy was 13,037,058.

Supervisor O. Philip Idsvoog said there were too many unknown variables for the county to set a tax-rate freeze.

In other business before the joint committee, personnel director Therese Freiberg said there has been a 3.88 percent increase in year-to-date medical costs compared to 2000. The increase is much smaller than in past years because more county employees are staying within the network of the county's recently established preferred provider option employee health insurance plan, Freiberg said. Prescription costs are still continuing to experience significant increases.

The Personnel Committee plans to review new rates yet to be developed for county employee retirees and others on self-pay plans, like former employees covered under COBRA.



	State delays county budget By BRIAN LEAHY of The Gazette The Legislature hasn't adopted Wisconsin's 2002-03 biennial budget, leaving Portage County officials wondering what impact the state budget will have locally. Members of the county's Finance and Personnel committees began work on the county's 2002 budget at a joint meeting Wednesday, July 11. They set a tentative schedule event and reviewed budget guidelines. Not knowing exactly how much money is coming into county coffers, the two committees adopted a moratorium on all new employee positions and initiatives that aren't funded by outside sources, such as grants. Much of the financial information won't be known until Aug. 10, when the county receives equalized property valuation information from the state, county finance director Bo DeDeker said. He also estimated the county could see a 5 percent decrease in state aids, but that number won't be known until a state budget is adopted. "We really don't know what the state is going to do," said County Board Chairman Clarence Hintz. "Everybody tells us it's not going to be good." Hintz has heard the decrease in state aids could be as much as 15 percent, so he recommended the county be prepared for the worst-case scenario. The 2001 county budget was $79.9 million. Revenue sources funding this year's budget include a $16.1 million property tax levy, $30.5 million in intergovernmental revenues, $3.9 million in county sales tax, $7.6 million in public charges for services and $13.6 million in intergovernmental charges. A proposal before the Legislature exempting forestland from property taxes could cause the county to "really get hammered," supervisor James Gifford said. The forest land exemption follows the state implementation last year of full-use value plan for agriculture land. Farmland is now assessed at its value as farmland, instead its higher monetary value as developed land. That change took about $98 million off the county's property tax rolls, DeDeker said during 2000 budget deliberations. One reason for the big push in exempting forestland is to prevent damage to trees that has happened since some state farmers began grazing livestock in their woodlots, so they could claim the parcels was being used as agricultural land. Assembly Bill 247 would redefine agricultural land for property tax purposes so that for every acre of agricultural land a person owns, nine-tenths of an acre of productive forestland, swamp or wasteland is taxed as agricultural land, provided it is contiguous to agricultural land owned by the same person. "(Forest land) could come off the tax rolls. They've really got some strong lobbying going on," Hintz said. Before the committees adopted the nonfunded new position and initiative moratorium, DeDeker suggested the county adopt a tax rate freeze for 2002, especially since some towns, like Eau Pleine and Dewey, saw big increases in the property valuation this year. If state aids are favorable and this year's equalized property valuation information from the state shows an increase, the county could still raise its property tax levy while maintaining this year's property tax rate of $5.33 per $1,000, which was a 6 percent increase compared to the $5.02 per $1,000 tax rate in 1998. In the last three years, the property tax levy (not the tax rate) has increased 24 percent, DeDeker said. The property tax levy in 2001 was 16,175,314, while in 1998 the levy was 13,037,058. Supervisor O. Philip Idsvoog said there were too many unknown variables for the county to set a tax-rate freeze. In other business before the joint committee, personnel director Therese Freiberg said there has been a 3.88 percent increase in year-to-date medical costs compared to 2000. The increase is much smaller than in past years because more county employees are staying within the network of the county's recently established preferred provider option employee health insurance plan, Freiberg said. Prescription costs are still continuing to experience significant increases. The Personnel Committee plans to review new rates yet to be developed for county employee retirees and others on self-pay plans, like former employees covered under COBRA.