CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – The Wausau City Council will consider three new fees as it puts together next year’s budget. You and I – the taxpayers – know that fees are just taxes by another name.
I’ve already talked about a wheel tax. Wausau residents already pay $25 more when they register their cars each year. None of that money goes towards roads in Wausau, it goes towards road projects elsewhere in Marathon County. The county should rescind its wheel tax on Wausau residents if the city wants to propose its own. Mayor Doug Diny has said earlier that he’d veto any budget that includes a wheel tax.
The city will also consider a separate line-item on your tax bill for garbage collection. For as long as anyone can remember, trash pick-up has been a municipality-funded service. Supporters of the new trash fee say it takes away an injustice. Large homes with many people pay just as much for trash collection as smaller homes with only one person living inside. You and I know better. Trash fees would be a new expense for everyone. Money that’s spent on garbage collection will then be spent on other things.
Last comes the stormwater utility. Municipalities have to account for and treat stormwater runoff from roofs and parking lots. In Wausau this is already a part of your property tax bill. Separating it means that non-profits, like schools and hospitals and churches will now have to pay. Imagine what will happen to your school taxes if every school parking lot is suddenly taxed. For the rest of us, people with smaller homes would likely pay more. Homes with about $200,000 of assessed value would pay less, if the city holds the line on spending elsewhere.
The problem with all of these fees is this: they’ll start at one price this year and are certain to go up. Does anyone think the wheel tax would still be $20 ten years from now? Of course not.
I’m sorry, Wausau city leaders. The city has a spending problem. New fees are not the solution.
Chris Conley
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