Wausau City Council Passes 2025 Budget

Friday, November 15th, 2024 -- 8:01 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) The Wausau City Council has passed the 2025 budget.

According to Mike Leischner with WSAU, Mayor Doug Diny says the spending plan is not perfect but still conforms to his request of no more than a 2.5% increase in spending.

He says things like ARPA-funded projects or positions will eventually need permanent funding. “We had to do some trickery [by] holding some things on grant funding as opposed to levy funding.

We will still have to pay that down the road. Pay the piper so to speak. “It’s a baby step. We are a long way from true zero-base budgeting but we’ll get there,” added Diny.

Zero-base budgeting, where all departments break down their budgets to zero and build them back up each year instead of starting with the cost to continue their operations and then adding or removing items, was a cornerstone of Diny’s campaign this spring.

Other challenges include funding for the city’s aggressive lead service line replacement program, which is reaching the end of its first year. Next year’s budget includes $6.1 million in low-interest loans that will eventually come due.

“The Council will have to determine how they manage that going forward. We will have to decide what our appetite is for additional debt.” Items like a $25 per vehicle wheel tax for all cars and trucks registered in the city didn’t make the final spending plan.

Some proposed cuts were added back in; Wausau will have three public swimming pools next summer and operations will continue as normal at the Sylvan Hill tubing area.

Additionally, there will be no extra public safety fee for free events in the 400 Block such as Wausau Events’ popular Concerts on the Square summer music series.

The city did implement a $1 per ticket charge for all ticketed events that require public safety services such as IronBull or the Big Bull Falls Blues Fest, which is expected to generate up to $70,000 to help cover overtime and other costs.

The spending plan passed 8-1 with Alder Terry Kilian the lone no vote. Alders Gary Gisselman and Tom Neal were excused from Tuesday’s meeting. The budget now goes to Mayor Diny for final approval.

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