Marshfield Common Council Approves 2019 Budget
Thursday, November 29th, 2018 -- 8:00 AM
(Marshfield News Herald) -City Council members on Tuesday approved Marshfield's 2019 budget with a lower property tax rate than originally proposed.The council voted 7-2 to approve an increase of 0.65 percent after the city initially proposed a 2 percent increase in the tax rate. The new rate means property owners will pay $9.26 per $1,000 of value, which means the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $926 on the city portion of the tax bill. That's up from $920 in 2018. The proposed budget was released to the public in October. The tax rate remained stagnant in recent years, so Marshfield officials argued that the city needed to play catch-up, and the council allowed in June for increasing the tax rate by up to 4.5 percent. Had it gone up that much, Marshfield would have reached its maximum tax levy, or total amount of money collected in property taxes, under state law. City Administrator Steve Barg said department heads were still expected to produce a prudent budget that did not include the full 4.5 percent, which is how the proposed 2 percent increase surfaced.
Changes in state law made certain business personal property tax-exempt, meaning the city would lose a significant amount of money for its budget if the tax rate stayed the same, Barg said in October. To offset that loss of revenue, the state granted the city about $218,000. The council decided to put the money toward lowering the tax rate from the proposed 2 percent increase. The city also benefited from an increased assessment of manufacturing properties, Barg said. Council members Chris Jockheck and Rebecca Spiros voted against the final city budget proposal. Jason Zaleski was absent.
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