They vote tonight. In an era where Waukesha residents are being hit from all sides with price increases, homes are unaffordable, and every taxing entity is reaching further into their pockets, let’s pry that the Waukesha County Board members find the strength to stand with the citizens who elected them. And no, the citizens don’t get a direct vote on this.
On Thursday, October 3, 2024 the County Executive introduced an ordinance to authorize a 0.5% county sales tax to be added to the existing state sales and use tax of 5%. The ordinance implements a sales tax beginning on July 1, 2025.
The plan is a compromise proposal to address our critical fiscal needs for nearly a decade. The specifics of the proposal are as follows:
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Up to 20% of sales tax collections (estimated $12 million if sales tax collections reach $60M) would go toward a direct reduction of property tax bills partially offsetting the impact of the sales tax on property owners. With the property tax cut in place the impact of the sales tax on a homeowner drops from about $12.00 per month to roughly $7.25 per month. The tax cut will appear on the December 2025 tax bills.
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Up to 20% of the sales tax collection beginning in January of 2027 (estimated to be about $12 million if sales tax collections reach $60M) would go toward local property tax reduction through monthly municipal aid payments. The level of aid will be determined based upon population of the municipality. Local aid levels would be revisited every two years in conjunction with the state budget cycle.
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The remaining 60% of sales tax dollars (roughly $36 million of an estimated sales tax collection of $60M) will be used to further reduce the County’s reliance on the property tax levy by eliminating our annual budget shortfall for at least the next 8 to 10 years and provide funds to the capital budget further reducing the County’s need to borrow funds.
They want to tax everybody who purchases something in the county to offset taxes paid by residents of the county who own property.
Only in the minds of bureaucrats would that make sense.
County residents will be the ones paying the bulk of the increased sales tax, not transients. Any property tax relief will be entirely dependent on county budgets not swelling right along with the increased collections. What are those odds? This is a genie you’ll never get back in the bottle. Never.
So the solution is to cut spending………where? Roads? LEO’s? Parks? Welfare?
Are you volunteering to offset the diesel and gasoline inflation? The inflation in asphalt?
I don’t care if they close all the parks and sell them to developers, but families with kids probably do care. I don’t care if then close WCTC–but a lot of employers do.
Fees or wheel-tax.
Tax away! Implementing a new forever tax revenue stream is the easy part. Keeping strict control over how it’s spent is another matter entirely.
Waukesha County’s prop-tax rate is the second-lowest in the State and–as you know–the County never had its own sales tax.
Both Vrakas and Farrow are very good at controlling spending. No good reason to think that will change.