Shawano property owners will see their overall taxes go down a bit in 2015 despite a slight increase in the city’s portion of the bill.
The Shawano Common Council on Wednesday approved a budget for next year that calls for a 3 percent hike in the levy, from $4.5 million to $4.64 million.
That will translate into a tax rate for city purposes of about $9.05 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, an increase from $8.76 per $1,000 this year.
The total tax bill, however, will go down for city taxpayers, thanks to decreases for all other taxing entities, from $24.61 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $23.75 per $1,000.
The Shawano School District’s portion of the levy will ease from $5.3 million to $5.2 million, with a tax rate for school purposes going from $10.35 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $10.12 per $1,000.
Shawano County’s portion of the levy will decrease from $2.64 million to $2.6 million, with the tax rate dipping from $5.14 per $1,000 to $5.
The state’s share will drop from $87,551 to $85,118, with the tax rate going down roughly one cent per $1,000.
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s share will fall by more than half, from $855,980 to $393,770, with the tax rate dropping from $1.67 per $1,000 to $0.77.
The most significant change in the city’s operating budget will be the addition of a detective for the Shawano Police Department, along with the addition of a part-time community services officer.
“This will add one more person to the department staff, bringing the full-time force to 20 officers,” Chief Mark Kohl said.
Kohl said the department will promote from within for the detective position and then refill the vacancy in the patrol staff.
“We do have some officers that are highly qualified and very much interested,” Kohl said.
Additional training will be required in specialized areas such as narcotics, arson and fraud, he said.
The city’s Police and Fire Commission will meet on Dec. 16 to discuss how to address staffing vacancies that also include the retirement announced last week of Capt. Jeff Heffernon and Police Officer Adam Bieber’s election as Shawano County sheriff.
The new part-time community services officer will work nights and weekends, Kohl said, to respond to code violations not being addressed during the regular shift.
“There are a lot of calls being missed that the current schedule doesn’t allow us to address quickly,” Kohl said.
The council unanimously approved the budget following a a public hearing that was not attended by any members of the public.
Mayor Lorna Marquardt thanked department heads for their efforts.
“They put a lot of work into this budget,” she said. “I know they certainly want to move the city forward, and I think they’re doing that with this budget.”
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