Local Leaders Celebrate the Signing of Shared Revenue Bill in Wausau

Wednesday, June 21st, 2023 -- 8:01 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) Local leaders celebrated in Wausau on Tuesday as Governor Evers signed Assembly Bill 245, better known as the shared revenue bill, which calls for 20 percent of the state's sales tax dollars to be shared between counties and municipalities across the state.

According to Mike Leischner with WSAU, Wausau mayor Katie Rosenberg says she doesn't have control of where that money goes, but the recent addition of firefighter and paramedic positions in the city is a start. "We have a lot of options. I mentioned our firefighters that we hired, 12 new firefighters. But that will be a council decision."

She says she's also not ruling out something you rarely hear when it comes to taxes, a decrease. "A million more dollars means that we have that flexibility to pay for those critical services that we provide our citizens."

She says it's now up to the city council to decide how that money will be spent in the next budget. "There are a couple of things that I'd like to prioritize, but I can never predict exactly where the Council wants to go. So, this, again, gives them the flexibility. I keep saying that because it's true. They have the opportunity to decide how they want to spend this."

Rosenberg says the increase brings Wausau's total shared revenue to about five million dollars. The bill marks the first significant increase in shared revenue in decades; in fact the last three adjustments to the shared revenue formula all brought decreases.

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