Ed Huck (l.) and Mike Brehm at Marshfield forum

At the same time, state aid payments have shrunk in proportion to the city's expenses, and Marshfield's share of the overall property tax bill in the city has risen nearly 10% in the last decade, Brehm told the gathering at the Mother Frances Streitel Conference Center.

And city residents pay for more than a million dollars worth of county services they don't receive as a result of "double whammy" taxation that benefits towns, he added.

Now city officials are asking citizens where they would like the city budget to be cut if trends continue.

If a levy-limit proposal had been in effect this year, Marshfield would have had to cut $1.5 million from its budget under the Legislature's plan, and $1.3 million under Gov. Jim Doyle's, Brehm said.

Ed Huck, Alliance executive director, told the forum that Marshfield isn't alone. State shared revenues have lost more than $200 million in buying power since 1995 and double-whammy taxation is a persistent, statewide problem, he said.  The resources available to finance government services are on a collision course with citizens' demands for services, Huck added.

Both the City's and the Alliance's Power Point presentations are available on Marshfield's web site, where you can go by clicking here.

An updated version of the Alliance presentation is here.

The Marshfield News Herald story on the conversation is here.

Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna also gave his suggestions on how to tame the dragon of high property taxes in an interview with wispolitics.com that is available as a webcast on its Internet site.

Mayor Hanna's overriding theme: adapt everything state and local governments do to recognize that Wisconsin is host to a series of regional economies that don't respect arbitrary political boundary lines, and that acting accordingly will improve the quality of life in our communities and the revenue picture for state and local governments.

"If we know that's a reality, we ought to find a way to work with our neighbors, because we share that economy," Mayor Hanna said.

"You don't grow the economy municipality by municipality," Mayor Hanna emphasized. "You do it within regions."

Mayor Tim Hanna

"If there are no incentives, local governments that do the heavy lifting on economic development will stop doing it," he cautioned.

See our proposal  here:

http://www.wiscities.org/newsletter86.htm#REDI

. The wispolitics webcast — you must use a Microsoft browser to view it — is here:

http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=36533

To watch an earlier video interview with Ed, go here. Note that you must use Internet Explorer — non Microsoft browsers won't work.

Lisa MacKinnon

Another Slap at Local Government?
Smart Growth repeal will cost taxpayers

When the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee voted to repeal Wisconsin's Smart Growth Law the other day, legislators claimed  they were working for the taxpayer.

Rep. David Ward (R-Fort Atkinson) said Smart Growth forces local officials to plan "with a gun to their head."

"Let's allow development to be controlled at the local level,"  said Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), co-chairman of the committee.

It was a vote that, if sustained, will cost the taxpayer in the end, said Lisa MacKinnon, policy director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin.

"We know that planning saves tax dollars. In the long run, communities and the state should save money as a result of comprehensive planning," MacKinnon said."The inability of the Joint Finance Committee to see this speaks poorly of their vision."