Wausau City Hall. MWC file photo
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Wausau’s finance committee has approved a slimmed-down version of the proposed supplemental budget requests for 2022.
While the committee approved some of the items as written, such as added funding for hot mix asphalt patching materials to help handle potholes this winter. Some of the items were pushed through in creative ways.
CDL training funds for new employees were approved, but will not be paid for through the supplemental request. Finance Director MaryAnne Groat noted that those could be paid through the city’s salary budgets since the cost is similar to one month’s salary. “[For an] equipment operator on the lower pay scale the salary for a one-month vacancy is $2,000. You are able to recover that CDL training with one month of vacancy. It’s very hard to fill a position in less than a month.”
City meetings will soon be closed-captioned on public access channels thanks to a new device that will be purchased using ARPA funding. That had been requested in the supplemental budget, but Committee Chair Lisa Rasmussen noted that the government funding would be appropriate for the device because it would allow people to participate in city meetings without going into a crowded space.
The committee also chose to hold off on a request for $100,000 to complete a workplace culture study at city hall, opting instead to put the idea out for bids next year. Funding for a Sesquicentennial Celebration to mark Wausau’s 150th birthday in 2022 was also put on hold to allow organizers to explore other options in the coming months since the event itself likely wouldn’t be held until next summer.
Items that were approved as part of the supplemental budget requests included a salary adjustment that suspends steps one and two on the city salary scale. A lump-sum bonus for employees over the midpoint was also approved and will come out of the city’s surplus for 2021.
Overall residents can expect an increase of about $0.49 on the 2022 mill rate, which amounts to about $50 on a $100,000 home. “That would fulfill all of our critical obligations, our contractual obligations, it would eat the cost of inflation which we don’t get a choice with, and it would get half this list done,” said Rasmussen. “It’s hard to say yes to everything this year, and we’ve had years where we could just do the list and it was fine- this just isn’t one of those years.”
“We’re giving a 2% cost of living increase, an accelerated step increase for new employees, and absorbing an 8.8% increase in health insurance,” added Groat.
The committee noted that had all of the supplemental budget requests been put through as proposed, the mill rate increase would have been closer to a dollar.
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