MADISON, Wis. — For the eleventh year in a row, property taxes will increase in K-12 school districts across the state. A recent report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum has found that homeowners can expect a modest increase in property taxes, despite state-imposed limits.
Preliminary figures from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue project an increase of about 1.5%. This increase is a multi-faceted issue, according to the latest annual Wisconsin Policy Forum report.
Senior WPF researcher Ari Brown said it’s a combination of state lawmakers working to decrease the tax burden, namely through keeping per pupil revenue limits in place while increasing state aid, but those efforts being offset by the sheer number of referenda passed throughout the state.
“There have been over 450 school district referenda that have passed in the last five years alone,” Brown said. “And, you know, despite state lawmakers hoping to lower property taxes, because so many referenda have passed, there was a slight increase to school district property tax levels.”
Brown explained that the increasing number of referenda passed points to a trend of school districts successfully reaching voters, to the point homeowners are willing to increase their own property taxes to fulfill a district’s need or want.
“I think that there’s this, you know, interesting kind of mix between the state wanting to lower that burden for property taxpayers, and then property taxpayers, you know, pretty unequivocally throughout the state saying, you know, our school district needs a new building, or it needs to be able to pay its staff to keep up with inflation or needs new equipment or anything like that,” Brown said.
However, even though property tax bills will increase, the property tax rate will actually decrease.
“Just really across the board, every corner of the state property value is rising very quickly,” Brown said. “That has the effect of lowering property taxes. Rates kind of unequivocally throughout the state, when you have value rising much faster than you have property tax rates rising and property tax levels rising, the rate is going to decline.”
To see the full report, click or tap here.
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