Waukesha administrator plans budget with zero increase in tax rate

By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

Waukesha - City Administrator Lori Curtis Luther said Tuesday night she'll present her executive budget next week with no increase in the city tax rate.

"The council, and specifically the Finance Committee, has been clear about its desire to minimize the tax impact on Waukesha residents," she said. So together with department managers, she said, she was working to keep any tax increase as low as possible, and preferably zero.

With confirmation late Tuesday of state aid, and despite a few remaining unknowns, Luther said she can project "with confidence" the zero increase. Under city code, the administrator - not the mayor - is responsible for presenting a budget to the common council.

She made the announcement as the Finance Committee began its initial review of the city's five-year capital plan - the first year of which will show up as debt in the 2011 budget.

"I can't think of a better way to start the budget process," Ald Joe Pieper, chairman of the Finance Committee, said.

In a telephone interview Monday, Mayor Jeff Scrima said he was gathering information about the budget and would propose his own target - a zero increase in spending, though not in the tax levy or tax rate.

"I think it has to be measured by spending because assessments and mill rates are variable," he said.

Asked how he would achieve that, he said, "I'm currently working on that and should have that out in the next couple of days."

Luther's announcement may have stolen his thunder.

She said this would be the first time in 16 years that the city would consider an operating budget that had no increase in the tax rate absent a citywide reassessment. Typically when a city reassesses, a tax base increase can offset a tax levy increase, resulting in a lower tax rate. However, if individuals' real estate assessments also increase, even a lower tax rate can produce a higher tax bill.

Luther's budget will include recommendations on capital projects. Among the largest requests in the five-year plan are relocation of two fire stations for $6.8 million next year, a $5.5 million reconstruction or Buchner Pool in 2012 and a community center for $2.7 million in 2015.

Further committee review, a public hearing and council action are scheduled over the next eight weeks.