Back when Gov. Jim “Craps” Doyle worked his veto pen to give us peons in Wisconsin a 2-year “freeze” (out of a 3-year freeze put in the budget by Legislative Republicans), he said, “The result of the freeze that I will sign will be that the average property tax on the average home will not go up at all next year, and will actually go down $5" in December 2006. Here it is, October, and as the temperature has dropped since July, Charlie Sykes points out a physical anomaly; the Doyle tax “freeze” has begun to melt even as the temperature is dropping. The latest news, included in the web posting of Charlie’s CNI Newspapers column, is that Madison will be able to increase the property tax by more than 7% (I haven’t seen any news on budget action out of that town yet).
Bloggers such as Owen of Boots and Sabers, Kevin over at Lakeshore Laments, and James Wigderson over at Wigderson’s Library & Pub have chronicled a 10% tax-and-fee levy increase in the city of Milwaukee, a $14 increase in the Dane County portion of the property tax bill for the average home there, a 4.68% increase in the Waukesha County levy (or a $10 increase on the average home there), and a likely budget-buster in the city of Sheboygan.
Sure looks like a melted Sno-Cone to me. To his benefit, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker has once again proposed a 0% increase in the tax levy. Of course, since he’s one of the two major Republican candidates for governor, the liberal-dominated County Board will likely follow their marching orders, stuff the budget full of pork, and like last year, override enough of Walker’s vetoes to make it an increase.
