NOTICE TOWN OF WAUSAU
SPECIAL TOWN MEETING TO EXCEED THE LEVY LIMIT
NOTICE is hereby given that a special town meeting of the electors, Town of Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin, will be held at the Town of Wausau Municipal building, 161484 County Road Z, Wausau, WI 54403 at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 23, 2025 pursuant to 66.0802(5) of WI. Stats. for the following purpose:
- Vote on whether to endorse the Town Board’s written resolution to exceed the levy limit.
- Vote to approve the 2025 total tax levy to be collected in 2026.
Dated this 7th day of October 2025 by the Town of Wausau Board
TOWN OF WAUSAU TAX LEVY INCREASE EXPLANATION
The Town of Wausau Board is proposing an increase in the Town Tax Levy by $43,400 to help cover operational expenses such as gas, oil, road maintenance, utilities, payroll, etc. The Board understands that no one wants their taxes to go up. However, with increasing costs, the Board unfortunately has to ask for a tax levy increase.
The Town levy is a very small portion of your property tax bill. As you may know, your property tax bill also includes taxes for the school district you live in, the technical college, and Marathon County. To determine the amount of taxes the Town collects on a home valued at $200,000, you divide that value of the home by $1,000 which equals 200 and take that amount times the Town mill rate of $2.47 or $494.
The proposed increase of $43,400 in the tax levy is a 15 cents increase per $1,000 or a $2.62 mill rate. For example, if you own a $200,000 home, the increase would be $30/year to your town taxes, a $300,000 home $45, or a $400,000 is $60.
In the past, the Town could raise the tax levy by 2 percent or the percentage increase of new construction whichever was greater. That law changed. Currently, the town can only increase the tax levy by the percentage of new construction. For 2025, this amounted to an additional $8,085 to the tax levy or a 1.265 percent increase.
One of the priorities of the Board is to maintain its roads. Unfortunately, the cost of maintaining the roads increases every year. For example, just to redo one mile of blacktop it costs $250,000. That is just blacktop, not all the other expenses of reconstructing a road or maintaining the roads to make it safe to travel. The Town has 55+ miles of road and only 7 miles are gravel. Even with the proposed tax levy increase, the Board had to reduce the Road budget from $562,000 to $528,133 or $34,867. If the levy is not increased, the road budget will need to be reduced by another $43,400.
In 2025 two major road projects were completed. Mercedes Road received a TriD $500,000 grant. The Town had to contribute ½ of the $500,000 to the project. McIntosh Road, from the south end of 25th Street to 18th Street, was also blacktopped for $92,000. Chip sealing was planned for Fire Station Road, Land Art Road, and Jay Circle this year. However, these roads were not chip sealed and the money for these projects will be carried over to 2026 to complete next year.
There are three major road projects being considered for 2026. They include: Forest Lawn – Farm Ridge to Texas Line – reconstruct, Del Rio – reconstruct, or Chico – reconstruct. Grants are being applied for these road projects but there is no guarantee the town will be awarded any additional funds. Any grants that are secured help stretch the blacktop budget so more than one mile of road can be completed in a year.
The public hearing on Thursday, October 23, at 6:30 p.m. will allow residents to ask questions and discuss the increase in the tax levy. At that meeting, the residents in attendance will vote on the proposed increase as well as the 2026 tax levy. We hope you can join us that evening.