City to hold public hearing on budget Wednesday

Shawano city officials will vote on the 2016 budget after a public hearing Wednesday.

The city was looking at a tax levy increase of about 1.3 percent, from $4.64 million to $4.7 million, an increase of roughly $64,000. City Administrator Brian Knapp said the resolution that will go before the Common Council leaves that number blank for further discussion at Wednesday’s meeting.

Knapp said city officials are discussing adding an additional $15,000 to the levy, mostly to address wage adjustments.

The current budget proposal calls for a 1-percent, across-the-board increase in wages. However, negotiations are still going on with the police union.

Knapp said the additional $15,000 would be added to the contingency fund in case it’s needed and would have only a slight impact on the levy and the tax rate.

If the budget were to go forward as proposed, without the additional $15,000, the levy would translate into a city tax rate of about $9.21 per $1,000 of assessed value, compared to the 2015 tax rate of $9.05 per $1,000. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $921 for the city’s portion of the tax bill.

The total bill also includes Shawano County, the Shawano School District, state of Wisconsin and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College taxes.

The tax levy for the Shawano School District will drop to about $4.87 million from $5.2 million this year.

The levy for Shawano County will ease to $2.4 million from $2.6 million in 2015.

The levy for Northeast Wisconsin Technical College will be $366,988, down from $393,770, while the state’s share of the levy will increase slightly to $85,359 from $85,118.

All the taxing entities together would add up to a bill of about $23.97 per $1,000 of assessed value, increasing from $23.75 in 2015.

The bulk of the city’s tax increase, roughly $42,000, would go to covering the city’s increase in debt service.

The city, which borrows for capital improvement projects two years at a time, took on about $3.1 million in debt this year: $1.5 million for its 2015 projects and $1.6 million for projects planned in 2016.

The largest share of that will go to street projects.

One of the largest capital equipment purchases is a new fire truck, at a cost of $445,000. The city’s share is $220,000, with the rest picked up by surrounding townships that are part of the Shawano Area Fire Department.

Major park projects on tap include addressing the degrading boat landing at Huckleberry Harbor. The city hopes to get a DNR grant to cover half of the anticipated $100,000 cost of that project.

Ball diamond rehabilitation and $50,000 to jump start development of Smalley Park are also proposed.

The city is also not giving up on plans for a future dog park, despite the controversy this year over a proposed location for the park that was ultimately rejected. The proposed budget includes $50,000 for a dog park.

The city’s general fund would increase from $6.7 million to $6.73 million, an increase of 0.4 percent.