Wisconsin Municipalities Still Asking Residents to Approve Referendums

Friday, February 7th, 2025 -- 12:00 PM

(Evan Casey, Wisconsin Public Radio) Municipalities across Wisconsin are still asking residents to approve referendums to fund public safety even after a sweeping measure to send more money to local governments was passed in 2023.

According to Evan Casey with the Wisconsin Public Radio, data from the Wisconsin Policy Forum found 44 municipalities and counties held referendums to increase their property tax levy in 2022.

That number fell to 31 in 2024, but Ari Brown, a researcher with Wisconsin Policy Forum, said more communities have been turning to referendums since 2018.

Counties and municipalities rely heavily on the property tax to provide services for residents. But state law limits how much local governments can raise their property tax levies without voter approval.

Brown said raising the property tax levy is limited by the rate of net new construction in a community. “One of the things that we’ve seen is that net new construction has tended to lag behind inflation in most years,” Brown said.

“So in most years, most, or at least a very significant number of municipalities, counties … are not going to be able to raise property taxes by the rate of inflation.”

Brown said that’s been an issue for local governments that are looking to retain staff through competitive salaries and benefits. Meanwhile, many local governments are still facing budget shortfalls even after the passage of the shared revenue law.

“The state injected a tremendous shock of resources through shared revenue,” said Jerry Deschane, the executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.

“Shared revenue is still less than a majority of how local governments are funded.” Brown said the law that reshaped how Wisconsin sends money back to local governments, known as Act 12, generally helped smaller communities.

“Act 12 helped everyone, but it helped some more than others,” he said. “And we suspect the folks who it helps the least are probably the ones where there are going to continue to be referenda.”

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