By Ryan Whisner
No residents commented directly Tuesday on the proposed City of Fort Atkinson 2023 budget.
A public hearing, offering residents an opportunity to ask questions about the budget, was held in conjunction with council’s regularly scheduled meeting.
The council is slated to vote on the budget at its Tuesday, Nov. 15, meeting.
City Manager Rebecca Houseman LeMire said the total tax levy for 2022 to fund the 2023 budget is $9,195,402, which represents a 13.54% increase over the 2021 levy for the 2022 budget.
Increases are primarily related to wage and benefits hikes across all departments.
“This budget provides a 4% wage increase to all full- and part-time employees and provides a $10 an hour minimum wage,” she said. “Believe it or not the city was at significantly lower than that in some of our recreation wages,” she added.
The largest increase, 20%, in public safety, is a mix of negotiated wage and benefit increases through union negotiations and the additional staffing brought on by the public safety referendum approved in April.
The estimated city portion of the mill rate will be $9.913 per $1,000 of assessed value, representing an increase of $1.21 over last year.
Describing impact to taxpayers, LeMire said a homeowner with a home valued at $150,000 could expect to see an increase to support the city portion of the tax levy of approximately $182. For a home valued at $350,000, the homeowner could expect to see an increase of approximately $425.
LeMire said the overall mill rate for the tax bills that will go out in December is not yet known because the other taxing jurisdictions — Jefferson County, MATC and the School District of Fort Atkinson — have not certified their respective numbers.
Additionally, she said, there was a slight decrease in the city’s assessed value, but the equalized value increased substantially. The assessed value of property in the city in 2022 was reported at $927,642,900, compared to an equalized value of $1.2 billion. Equalized values are calculated by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
“We are assessing below where the market is,” the city manager said. “We’re out of compliance with statutes and people are selling their homes for significantly more than it’s being assessed for.”
Continued noncompliance would lead to a forced assessment under state supervision, LeMire noted.
“We certainly do not want them to supervise and charge us for a new assessment. We currently have a five-year maintenance contract with our assessor, and we will be looking at an interim market update in 2023 to get us back into compliance with state statutes relating to our assessment ratio,” LeMire said.
Through the interim market update, the assessed values of properties will increase in 2023. Despite the disparity, a new assessment does not unilaterally create an increase in taxes.
“What would happen is the assessed value goes up and then the mill rate, which is multiplied times that value, would decrease in 2023,” LeMire said. That would then be reflected in the 2024 budget.
She said the council and city staff have established some goals for 2023.
As of January 1, 2023, the city’s 911 EMS service will begin. Other projects include the closure of the demolition and remediation of the Lorman property, working with the town of Koshkonong on a new 20-year boundary agreement, engaging consultants for the Janesville Avenue corridor planning, implementation of agenda management software, completion of an interim market update relating to assessment ratio, working with the School District of Fort Atkinson on traffic patterns at Fort Atkinson High School, and breaking ground on the Banker Road project.
No additional borrowing is anticipated in 2023. A borrowing approved in 2022 of $454,000 to fund projects and purchases in 2023 will be utilized for the acquisition of a squad car, two dump/plow trucks, fire department turn-out gear, hoses, and other equipment.
With no one speaking directly on the budget, although one resident did praise the city for its transparency in the budget document, the hearing was quickly closed.
Council members applauded LeMire and city staff for their development of the budget document, which is available on the city’s website.
“I’m very appreciative of the information that they share, not only from my perspective to make sure that myself and my colleagues are understanding things well before we are making decisions, but certainly that all residents can see that truly every penny the city is spending is allocated and laid out for anyone who desires to review that information,” councilperson Megan Hartwick said.
Councilperson Eric Schulz said the transparency and informative narrative of the city’s budget document helped him understand where all the city’s money is spent.
“I think it’s important for the residents to realize that so much of what we do with the budget is constrained by outside factors and beyond our control. I appreciate some of the goals that were achieved here, particularly giving our hard-working city employees a decent raise and raising the minimum wage for our part-time and seasonal employees,” councilperson Mason Becker said.
Council President Chris Scherer also offered praise for the budget process saying: “Historically we would receive a binder that was tough to get through and now we are better at telling our story from a financial picture, not only of what we have done, but where we are going. We are like many communities and many people who are trying to do as much as we can with what appears to be less and less.”
File photo/Kim McDarison.
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