This Just In ...

Franklin city taxes by-the-numbers

Posted by Kevin Fischer on Dec. 13, 2010

In Sunday’s Crossroads section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Steve Walters offered a statistical analysis of the 8 years Jim Doyle served as Wisconsin Governor.




“Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- raise taxes. Wisconsin's problem is not that we tax too little. It is that we spend too much.”
Governor Doyle during his 2003 State of the State address


Here is one of Steve Walters’ findings:

"+19.1%: The Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates that the December 2002 net property tax bill on that mythical median-valued Wisconsin home was $2,517, and the bills that will soon be arriving in that homeowner's mailbox will be for $3,000 - a $19.1% increase."

Walters’ column got me wondering how the city of Franklin’s tax numbers changed during the same 8-year period.

The property tax levy is the most important tax piece. In 2002, Franklin’s property tax levy was $15,606,851. The recently-adopted Franklin budget has a property tax levy of $ $20,426,000.  That’s an increase of 30.8 %.

Rather than focus on the levy, Franklin City Hall leaders have been concentrating on the tax rate. They submit that Franklin’s taxes when comparing our tax rate to the rates in other communities aren’t all that bad.

OK, so let’s look at the tax rate. In 2002, Franklin’s tax rate was $8.17. The recently-adopted city budget has a tax rate of $24.76. That’s an increase of 203%.

Even if you just look at the past four years going back to 2006, Franklin’s property tax levy increased 10.4%. The tax rate increased 15.3%. The current recession began in late 2007.

Is Franklin a tax hell? You be the judge.

And BTW, my kingdom for that median valued property tax bill Steve Walters wrote about.