City of Marshfield Administrator Reaches Same Conclusion as His Wisconsin Colleagues: "It's going to be a tough budget year"

Marshfield City Council votes to freeze tax rate. (Marshfield News Herald, 9/13/2011)

Excerpt: The 2012 Marshfield tax rate will remain at $8.95 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

By a vote of 7-2, with council members Gordon Earll and Dave LaFontaine voting "no" and John Spiros absent from Tuesday's meeting, the City Council approved the rate, which will raise about $134,000 in additional revenue because of new construction or building improvements in Marshfield.

The council also considered decreasing the tax rate to $8.85, which would have provided the city the same amount of tax revenue as last year: $11,687,000.

Because of state budget cuts to the amount of shared revenue to cities, Marshfield will receive about $400,000 less in state aid in 2012, said Steve Barg, city administrator.

Part of this loss will be recouped through city employees paying a greater share of health and retirement benefit costs. By maintaining the current tax rate, the city will have a deficit of about $116,000, Barg said.

"This is going to be a tough budget year," he said.

Other Wisconsin county and municipal budget news.
City of Beloit prioritizes needs for 2012.  (9/14/2012)
Facing $2.5 million shortfall, La Crosse considers fees.  (9/14/2011)
100 show up at Dodgeville budget hearing.  (9/12/2011)
Zero percent increase for Prairie du Sac department budgets.  (9/7/2011)
City of Ashland looks at projected shortfall of $329,000 in 2012 budget.  (8/26/2011)
Dodgeville city council to hold listening session on 2012 budget.  (8/26/2011)
Shawano budget deficit at $504,800.  (8/25/2011)
City of Ripon facing $110,000 budget deficit for 2012.  (8/25/2011)
Long list of cuts on table for Racine city services.  (8/25/2011)
Dodge County Administrator:  "Governor Walker does not speak for Dodge County".  (8/25/2011)
Longevity bonuses in Portage might become a thing of the past.  (8/24/2011)
Declining property values pose a challenge to Columbus budget development.  (8/24/2011)
Whitewater council looks at 0% tax levy increase.  (8/24/2011)
Janesville residents asked to make tough choices in online budget scorecard.  (8/24/2011)
Village of Darien officials ask for input on 2012 budget.  (8/24/2011)
City of Marshfield has some wiggle room in its 2012 budget development.  (8/24/2011)
Soglin on 2012 Madison budget:  "Every service we rely on is vulnerable".  (8/23/2011)
With a ballooning budget deficit, Marathon County considers a tax increase.  (8/23/2011)
Sheboygan's Strategic Fiscal Planning Committee to determine what city will look like.  (8/19/2011)
Brown County Exec looks at same tax levy, impact on services to be determined.  (8/18/2011)
City of Shawano wrestles with $128,000 deficit.  (8/16/2011)
Possible double whammy for Shawano City-County Library.  (8/15/2011)
Portage County Executive looks to "create a bridge to a new design, a way of functioning on less".. (8/15/2011)
Antigo cuts fire, police positions.  (8/15/2011)
Adding up the budget numbers in the Fox Valley.  (8/14/2011)
Sauk County officials ask for input.  (8/12/2011
Marathon County ranks services to address $500,000 budget shortfall.  (8/12/2011)
City of Beloit faces a challenging budget process.  (8/8/2011)
Fond du Lac city manager sez Governor's tools not enough to offset cuts.  (8/2/2011)
Manitowoc mayor asks department heads for 10% budget cuts.  (8/2/2011)