Wausau Mayor Says the City's Budget is Going to be Similar to Most

Monday, September 19th, 2022 -- 8:00 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) -Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg says there will likely be a common theme among cities like hers this fall- the 20-23 budget will be tight.

"It's expensive. It's going to be a tough year." She says that includes paying for things like roads, as the cost of maintenance took a big jump in the last year. "Because you have petroleum on multiple levels here, but it costs, now, $1.3 million to build a mile of road in Wausau where, in the past, it was just $1 million."

She says the city is feeling inflation everywhere, from a 30 percent jump in the coast of road work to payroll and making sure they are able to keep their employees. "Right now the team is negotiating the fire and police unions, so we're anticipating some of those costs and people have expectations for what they're paid. We also update some of our HR policies, so people are going to be getting a little more money."

She says the budgets will also look a little different this year as the city and county start spending ARPA money. "It will look like we're spending more and same with the county, every municipality, because we have those ARPA funds, so that's adding to what we're able to spend. But, obviously, there's some restrictions there too."

Rosenberg says right now it's too soon to tell what your tax bill will look like for the new year, the city budget for 20-23 is expected to be finalized by Thanksgiving.

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