The City of Tomahawk held its first informational meeting explaining that a proposed levy referendum is needed to maintain basic city services.
The meeting brought mixed reactions from residents as city officials laid out the financial challenges they say the city is facing.
“So we’re about 20% behind the inflation rate,” says Steve Ding Bartz, City Council Member.
City leaders say Wisconsin’s levy limits restrict how much they can raise property taxes — meaning voters must approve any increase beyond the cap.
Between 2020 and 2025, the city’s levy increased by about $8,500 per year, spread across multiple departments.
“So over Public Safety, Public Works, Parks, Police, Fire. We’ve had to share $8,500 among all of us over those years,” says Amanda Bartz, City Clerk and Treasurer.
Department leaders told residents many services have already been scaled back to balance the budget.
Tomahawk’s Streets Department says with just five employees, crews are doing more work in-house while trying to stretch limited resources.
“We hot-mix and repair many of our bigger potholes in the summer to save on applying multiple rounds of cold patch during the winter and spring. And trying to hold the roads together as best as we can,” says Nick Rosenmeier, Tomahawk Streets Department Leadperson.
Staffing is also an issue at City Hall.
City Clerk-Treasurer Amanda Bartz says only two full-time employees manage the office’s responsibilities.
“With such a small team, normal events like vacation, sick leave, training, meetings such as this can result in the office being temporarily closed. Today, as we sit in this meeting I have not one to staff city hall so it is closed to the public,” says Amanda.
Officials say further cuts could lead to disruptions in basic services.
“There’s limited room to reduce any administrative services without interruptions to services or office hours that we keep at city hall,” says Amanda.
The Tomahawk Public Library has also reduced staff and programs as rising costs continue to impact its budget.
“And on top of that there is now a surcharge of $3, $6 per book,” says Heidi O’Hare, Public Library Director.
If the referendum fails, city leaders say more cuts may be unavoidable.
“We’re not asking for billions, we’re just asking for basic fundamentals to get us through another year,” says Steve.
If approved, the referendum would increase taxes by about $75 per $100,000 of assessed property value.
The city plans to hold two other informational sessions on March 7th at 10AM and March 19th at 6PM.
Residents will vote on the referendum during the spring election on Tuesday, April 6th.
