Wisconsin residents could be facing largest property tax increase in 10 years, report finds

Alison Dirr | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin residents could be facing their largest property tax increase in 10 years, a report by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum found.

"School property taxes across Wisconsin are rising by more than $220 million on December 2019 tax bills, which suggests — when combined with increases in county and technical college district levies — that Wisconsin residents could see their largest property tax increase in a decade," the report states.

School districts across the state are collectively raising K-12 schools' portion of the property tax levy by 4.5%, a result of state budget changes and referendums approved by individual districts' voters to exceed state revenue limits, the report found.

School districts levied $5.21 billion in 2019-20 property taxes compared with $4.99 billion in 2018-19, the report states.

"Given the fact that the revenue limits were raised in the state budget, and given that a number of referenda have passed, it is not a surprise that school district levies are going up," said Jason Stein, research director at the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

At the same time, they are going up more than had been projected during the state budget, he said.

County property taxes increased to $2.28 billion in 2019-20 from $2.23 billion in 2018-19, a 2.2% increase. Of the state's 72 counties, 66 raised their property tax levies, the report states.

The statewide total for technical college property tax levies increased this year to $471.2 million from $457.2 million, an increase of 3.1%.

Technical college property tax levies make up about 4% of the annual statewide levy while counties account for about 20%.

The report also noted, however, that local factors and property assessments will mean that tax bills for individual properties will vary.

School districts, counties and technical colleges make up about two-thirds of the state's property taxes. Statewide data on municipal property tax levies, tax increment and special districts — which account for the rest of the state's property taxes — are not yet available.

For more than 25 years, the state has capped the combined amount of property tax and state general aid that school districts can take in per pupil.

Revenue limits generally used to increase by the rate of inflation, but that has tapered off, and in recent years there was no change made to the per-pupil limit. That meant that if districts received more general state aid, they would have to cut property taxes to stay within the cap.

But the recent state budget from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature brought with it a change in the form of increased revenue limits and increased general school aids.

In the budget, revenue limits increased by $175 per pupil in 2019-20 and $179 in 2020-21. General school aids increased by $83 million in 2019-20 and $164 million in 2020-21.

School boards could then raise property taxes by the difference between the new revenue limit and the new general aid figure, in cases where the revenue limit increase was greater than the general aid increase.

Also contributing to the increase is an unusually large number of school referendums that have passed in recent years, allowing school districts to exceed the state revenue caps and raise property taxes, Stein said.

The report also notes that such an increase in the tax levy from school districts has a history in Wisconsin.

"School district levies increased by more than 4.5% in eight out of the 10 years from

2000 to 2009," the report states.

The state's local governments rely heavily on the property tax, the report states.

"Looking ahead, the state budget allows for an additional revenue limit increase for schools in 2020-21, though as noted the state is also raising general school aids," the report concludes. "In addition, many of the last year’s school referenda are still being phased in, and large districts such as Milwaukee and Madison are contemplating putting additional referenda before voters as they seek to improve outcomes for students.

"The issues raised by this year’s tax bills will bear watching in 2020 as well."

Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.