Property taxes down for many in La Crosse

School district gets most of the credit for little or no property tax increases.

Paying property taxes is never a fun thing. It’s easier for many property owners this season, however, in La Crosse, some of whom are heading to the treasurer’s office now with tax bills in hand.

Taxes have actually gone down for many. The city tax levy is among those that saw little or no increase, up from $12.24 per thousand of property value to $12.28. 

Taxes would have been even lower if the city council hadn’t added $250,000 to La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat’s 2017 spending plan late in the budget process.

There was a point to that, says city council president Dick Swantz.

“The council wanting to remind the mayor, that this organization we have here is ‘strong council, weak mayor,'” Swantz said, “and so the budget, quite frankly, may be developed by the mayor but it’s not the mayor’s budget.”

While the lid on property taxes from city government helped with tax bills, any real decrease in the city comes courtesy of the La Crosse school district, which set a levy rate earlier this year that was at its lowest level in seven years, due to increased state funding for schools.

That lid wasn’t just good news for homeowners, either. The largest property taxpayers in the city will see substantial benefits.  Like Gundersen Health System, the biggest property taxpayer in the city, whose tax bill last year was over $5 million.

In La Crosse, city government collects 39 percent of every property tax dollar, the La Crosse school district collects 42 percent. The rest is split between the county, Western Technical College and state government.