Shared revenues to get big boost by state

It’s not clear when Wisconsin’s 2023-25 biennial budget will be finalized, but one thing that will be clear is that municipalities will be the big winners when it comes to getting state funding.

The Wisconsin Assembly passed Assembly Bill 245 in May and has sent it on to the Senate for that chamber’s approval. According to Rep. Peter Schmidt, one of the sponsors of the bill, the minimum increase in funding for cities, counties, towns and villages was set at 10%, but Shawano County municipalities are going to, for the most part, see substantially more shared revenue after decades of funding being frozen in place.

The towns and villages could be seeing a minimum of $34,000 in additional aid from the state, which could double or triple the amount they currently receive, if preliminary figures hold. The Town of Germania will see the biggest percentage jump, with a 311.9% increase to $47,366. The Town of Wescott will see the biggest monetary increase, except for Shawano, with an $84,782 increase bringing the annual aid to $125,823 — a 206.6% hike.

Shawano will be receiving an additional $241,116 if the numbers hold, resulting in a 21.3% increase for the city.

The increases in shared revenue have been a long time coming, according to Schmidt.

“This is what I campaigned on, bringing some of that money back to the Northwoods,” he said. “This is money they get to manage the cost of providing basic services. That’s been frozen for many decades.”

County increases are still being worked out at the capital, according to Schmidt.

AB 245 also ties future funding to the success of the sales tax, with 20% of the 5% state sales tax earmarked for municipalities, Schmidt said. While it does present the risk that revenues will drop if sales tax earnings fall, he pointed out that the only year in the last 15 years where sales tax revenues dropped was in 2009.

“We have a very stable sales tax collection in the state of Wisconsin,” Schmidt said.

With the NFL Draft coming to Green Bay in 2025, Schmidt is hoping that Wisconsin municipalities get the big payday from having hotels booked, restaurants filled and other businesses seeing a boost in patronage. He noted that Green Bay sees about $15 million in sales tax revenue each home game day, but the state is expecting the three-day draft event to bring in $94 million from sales as around 250,000 people are expected to descend on northeast Wisconsin.

“That should be a good year for us,” Schmidt said. “The Green Bay Packers are working with a lot of groups. We’re going to ag groups, businesses, Green Bay tourism, chamber — they’re going to be working statewide. They’re talking about bringing cruises in from Lake Michigan, as long as there’s no ice.”

Tying the shared revenue with the sales tax was the big thing that caused some to pause in the Legislature, but Schmidt saw it as necessary to try and get those revenues to a healthier level.

“That’s the only negative with this,” Schmidt said. “We only had the one year where we had negative sales tax, and that was after the ‘08 housing crisis. Our economy looks pretty bright.”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com

BY THE NUMBERS

Preliminary figures on how much municipalities will receive in shared revenues once Assembly Bill 245 is approved:

Municipality Current aid Aid increase Total aid

Cities

Shawano $1,129,498 $241,116 $1,370,614

Towns

Almon $27,393 $39,681 $67,074

Angelica $56,638 $60,900 $117,539

Aniwa $44,352 $38,690 $83,042

Bartelme $57,343 $43,595 $100,938

Belle Plaine $34,696 $59,609 $94,305

Birnamwood $47,869 $41,613 $89,482

Fairbanks $36,467 $39,009 $75,475

Germania $11,499 $35,866 $47,366

Grant $42,938 $46.349 $89,287

Green Valley $36,055 $47,373 $83,428

Hartland $53,277 $44,015 $97,291

Herman $57,481 $42,453 $99,934

Hutchins $56,995 $38,471 $95,466

Lessor $30,777 $50,798 $81,576

Maple Grove $62,331 $45,728 $108,059

Morris $22,153 $36,303 $58,456

Navarino $24,026 $36,959 $60,985

Pella $42,712 $45,258 $87,970

Red Springs $22,646 $46,786 $69,432

Richmond $40,367 $60,884 $101,251

Seneca $22,640 $38,337 $60,977

Washington $23,365 $63,131 $86,496

Waukechon $32,240 $46,920 $79,160

Wescott $41,041 $84,782 $125,823

Wittenberg $62,309 $43,763 $106,072

Villages

Aniwa $62,924 $34,001 $96,925

Birnamwood $100,847 $42,301 $143,148

Bonduel $181,910 $53,702 $235,612

Bowler $89,311 $35,362 $124,674

Cecil $24,191 $38,925 $63,115

Eland $43,534 $33,295 $76,829

Gresham $141,935 $38,942 $180,876

Mattoon $183,778 $35,984 $219,762

Tigerton $371,313 $41,882 $413,195

Wittenberg $316,933 $46,786 $363,719