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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – “Your monthly payment is going up.” That was the notice I received over the weekend from my mortgage company.
During these commentaries I’ve talked a lot about last year’s revelation in Wausau and the property tax increase that followed. This weekend was a reminder that we, only now, are starting to feel the full impact.
If you recall, my modest $100,000 home is now assessed at $140,000. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. If I were to hang a ‘for sale’ sign, that’s roughly what my house would sell for. Buying my home turned out to be a good investment for me. Up 40% in value in less than five years.
But the tax implications of revaluation have been hard. My property tax bill went up by about $500 last year. Fortunately I knew that revaluation was coming, and I set aside more each month in my escrow account. I didn’t have to write a big check to City Hall at the end of the year.
But each April my mortgage company evaluates my escrow account. If you’re a homeowner, they do it for you also. And the mortgage company is very much aware that my property taxes are higher. Their notice to me: since the start of the year, I haven’t sent enough money aside to cover my new, higher tax bill. I’ll need to send $175 this month to catch up. Starting next month, my mortgage payment will rise $30 a month. And that’s just to pay for what’s already happened with my property tax. It says nothing about how much taxes will go up for next year’s budget.
And taxes are going up again. The voters, in their wisdom, said ‘no’ to a school referendum. The school board will raise taxes to cover a budget deficit. In Wausau, economic growth has been anermic. The mayor and the city council are tangled up in frivolous things; there are no serious discussions about where to cut spending. COVID cash, five years later, has dried up.
I can handle the higher payments. But, can everyone? At this pace, your housing payment will go up $100 a month just three years from now. That’s substantial, especially for people on fixed incomes.
The solution is to cut spending to keep taxes down. But no one, anywhere, has a plan for that.
Chris Conley
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