Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader File Photo Crews work on landscaping the former Shawano Medical Center site at the corner of West Fifth and Bartlett streets in Shawano earlier this year. City officials say closure and demolition of the former hospital accounted for the lack of growth in equalized value in the city last year.
New construction helped boost Shawano County’s equalized value by 3 percent over last year, adding nearly $28 million to the tax base, according to a report from the state Department of Revenue.
The DOR released a report last week showing a spike in the county’s total equalized value from $2.99 billion last year to just over $3 billion this year.
Countywide, net new construction rose by roughly 1 percent, but those numbers vary across individual municipalities.
“Some municipalities have gone up astronomically,” Shawano County Administrative Coordinator Brent Miller said.
The numbers are somewhat skewed by municipalities that cross county borders.
A small portion of the city of Marion rests within Shawano County, but that also happens to be a portion where the city’s industrial park is located, Mayor Patricia Mielke noted.
The addition of a Dollar General, storage units and two other businesses boosted new construction in that area by more than $955,000, an increase of 19 percent.
The city of Shawano was one of only two municipalities in the county where net new construction was down; the other was the town of Morris, which saw a decrease of 0.07 percent.
Shawano’s net new construction dropped by $476,000, or 0.09 percent. The city’s equalized value was relatively unchanged percentage-wise, dropping from $510 million to just under $508 million.
City Administrator Brian Knapp said it was likely the demolition of the former Shawano Medical Center contributed to that drop and offset any other growth in the city.
“Losing $2.5 million (in assessed property value) would offset any gains,” he said.
Knapp said there should be a “considerable jump” in new construction numbers in 2018, given the addition of Belmark, the expansion at United Cooperative and other projects.
Statewide, according to the DOR, equalized property value as of Jan. 1, 2017, was $526 billion, a 4 percent increase over the prior year. Equalized values are based on data from Jan. 1, 2016, to Jan. 1, 2017.
Wisconsin residential property was valued at $369 billion as of Jan. 1, 2017, an increase of 4.3 percent, or $15.1 billion. The 4.3 percent increase marks the fourth consecutive year of positive gains in residential home values.
The DOR report also shows construction activity continues an upward trend.
Wisconsin added $8.1 billion in new construction during 2016, including $3.6 billion in residential property, $3.8 billion in commercial property and $389 million in manufacturing property. In total, new construction value increased by 13.6 percent from the prior year.