City of Wausau Could be Next in Line for Wheel Tax

Monday, October 21st, 2024 -- 8:00 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) The City of Wausau could be next in line for a wheel tax as leaders debate the details of the 2025 budget, according to Mike Leischner with WSAU.

According to a memo released Friday evening by Mayor Doug Diny the $25 wheel tax on registered vehicles would add $600,000 to the city’s checkbook.

It’s one of several fee modifications designed to add $1.1 million in revenue. Others include additional police service fees for ticketed events and a $12,000 public safety fee for events in the 400 Block.

The Police Department is also proposing a $40 vehicle lockout service fee. The release also notes that the Fire Department has proposed selling its airboat and modifying a reinspection charge.

The proposal also includes a “bill for fire services” which would add more than $90,000 in revenue, though it’s not clear what that would be. Proposed cuts include closing one city pool and eliminating operations at the Sylvan Hill tubing area.

Those items together would slash $162,000. Other proposed cuts include $20,000 from the police overtime and a reduction in Community Service Officer hours. Mayor Diny has also proposed a cut to his own budget, eliminating membership in the US Conference of Mayors.

That would save $3,838. Diny notes that he would still like to see another $300,000 removed from the budget, adding the cuts aren’t intended to reduce services, but rather “slowing the growth” of city government.

“As you will recall, I asked department heads to prepare lists of possible cuts equal to 2.5% of their budget. Attached to this memo is a spreadsheet of their suggestions."

"Now it is the job of the council to set priorities and bring this budget in on target. As I have said since becoming mayor, the budget process cannot be “additive only” as in the past. There needs to [be] a way to identify and cull low-priority or unneeded items."

"While you have a good list of suggestions to work with, it is not perfect. It should be clear from reading the list that some department heads took the task earnestly and made some very good suggestions while other suggestions seemed disingenuous and designed to merely draw the ire of the public."

"To avoid penalizing departments that did good work, I am suggesting that the Finance Committee start toward the $300,000 target by considering a 2.0% across-the-board cut on any department that the committee feels fell short on usable suggestions for this process,” noted Mayor Diny in his memo.

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