CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) Wausau has debated a wheel tax before. Each time it has been rejected. But like a vampire, a stake needs to be driven through the heart to finally kill it.
In 2025 a wheel tax was proposed by Wausau’s Department of Public Works. $25 added to each vehicle registration to pay for road maintenance. There was pushback and it was left out of the city budget.
Earlier a $20 wheel tax was put in front of the voters at referendum. 69-percent of voters said ‘no’ in 2016.
Does anyone think residents are more likely to say ‘yes’ in today’s economy? Of course not.
And Wausau residents are already being fleeced on the Marathon County wheel tax. We pay an extra $25 each year to register our vehicles, and not one penny of the $2.9-million raised each year goes towards a single block of asphalt in Wausau. City roads cannot be maintained using county dollars. Wausonians, your current wheel tax goes to rebuild culvers and pave roadways in Mosinee, or Edgar, or Nutterville – and that is nuts. Not a single county board member from Wausau stands up to say that city residents are owed a refund.
Wausau leaders will soon be pointing out that 56 municipalities already have local wheel taxes. Good for them. If you prefer life in Janesville, Wauwatosa, Eau Claire or Appleton, move there. Wausonians are already pummeled with ever-rising property taxes, the highest water bills in the state, and fees that rise every year. And we already said “yes” to a $63 property tax increase as we were suckered into hiring new ambulance paramedics as a permanent expense after a one-time grant ran out.
Wheel tax for Wausau? Absolutely not. For once the city will have to live within its means.
Chris Conley
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