Forest County makes comparatively little revenue from taxes because there’s just not a lot of land to tax in the county.
The majority of it is owned by other governments, primarily the U.S. Forest Service. That leaves 17% of taxable land in the county.
District 18 Supervisor Ron Skallerud says the county does what it can with extra revenue brought in
The last couple of years the county’s been able to use some federal COVID funding and some federal funding back pay for the impact of federal lands on the county. But both those funding sources are ending with no guarantee the county will see them or something like them again.
“Even with all of the external revenue sources that we pull in, we still have come up to the point with if we don't address going above our levy, we would have to either cut services or go to referendum. That's where we're at right now,” said Skallerud.
As WXPR reported nearly a year ago, the county had to rebuild its social services department.
It did a wage study that found it doesn’t offer competitive wages compared to neighboring counties. It can’t offer more competitive wages at its current funding level.
Skallerud says if the county is to retain and hire employees to provide services, it’s going to need to raise wages to be competitive.
The county is asking voters if they approve of raising the levy by $2 million a year going forward.
This is the question voters will see on the April 2 ballot:
QUESTION: “Under state law, the increase in the levy of Forest County for the tax to be imposed for the next fiscal year, 2025, is limited to .865%, which results in a levy of $6,195,000. Shall Forest County be allowed to exceed this limit and increase the levy for the next fiscal year, 2025, for the purpose of continuing operations as needed to run the County, by a total of 32.284%, which results in a levy of $8,195,000 and on an ongoing basis, include the increase of $2,000,000 for each fiscal year going forward?”
The impact on taxpayers is about $120 a year on property valued at $100,000.
“This is really talking about operating [costs]. To give you an example of what we've impacted, looking at our utilities cost for the county over the last few years, looking back at 2020 up through 2023, our utilities cost for the county increased over $79,000 alone,” said Skallerud.
Skallerud says a yes vote would mean people like the services the county offers right now and want the county to keep operating as is.
A no vote means people want the county to reassess and cut back services.
“We are not telling people how to vote. We're just wanting them to be informed,” said Skallerud.
If passed, the tax change would go into effect next year.
If it fails, the county will consider reducing non-mandatory services like UW-Extension, the Forest County Fair, economic development efforts, and elderly support services like meal sites and transportation.
Mandatory services like public safety, highway maintenance, and the health department could also be scaled back.
The county would not have the option to bring up a referendum again until 2026.
Forest County offers some additional information on the referendum on its website.
