Village Board Faced With 4.4% Tax Increase

The village government portion of Whitefish Bay tax bills will most likely increase by more than 4 percent this year — mostly as a result of state budget cuts.

A preliminary outline of the nearly $14 million village budget was first introduced earlier this month with a proposed tax levy increase of 4.58 percent, rising from $10.25 million in 2011 to $10.72 million in 2012. The proposed levy increase has lowered to 4.4 percent with changes the trustees made in a following budget meeting.

The proposed expenditures are increasing by $98,951, or 0.71 percent, but that number was quickly outweighed by a $350,000 drop in revenue. Village Manager Patrick DeGrave said that shortfall was mostly due to Gov. Scott Walker’s cuts to local municipalities in his biennial budget. 

"While the governor has said he has given us all the tools need to fill that hole, that’s a pretty big hole and we didn’t get a big enough shovel to fill all of that,” DeGrave said at a recent Village Board meeting.

DeGrave said the trustees may be able to find some savings my trimming operational budgets or capital equipment expenses, but there is not much left to shave. The village is also facing more than $100,000 in new debt service.

“Even if you show tremendous diligence, I’d venture to say you’re not going to find a half million dollars in cuts," he told trustees at a recent Village Board meeting. "While the 4.58 percent levy increase may be shocking or unpalatable, you’re going to have little meaningful wiggle room.”

The budget does not include costs for capital improvement projects, such as sewer improvements, which are expected to be funded with borrowed money.

While municipalities are typically restrained from tax hikes by state-imposed levy limits, the village is able to levy more than usual this year because it did not levy as much as it could have last year.

"We're going back to last year’s levy worksheet. One of the numbers is how much new debt do you have, and we had way more than what we had to tell them to balance last year’s levy," DeGrave said. "By adjusting for 2010, that allowed us additional room to work for 2011."

The trustees have their next budget workshop on Monday and any unfinished work from that meeting will carry over to Oct. 31.