As I See It
Property taxes higher despite more private contractors
Like other homeowners, I recently got my property tax bill from the city of La Crosse. I was a bit surprised to see my bill had actually gone up by a few hundred dollars this year. I was surprised in part because of all the money the federal government provided to the city to recover from the pandemic. The city hasn’t spent all of the #25 million in American Rescue Plan Act the feds provided, but apparently it wasn’t used to provide tax relief. Much of what our property tax funds is for protective services. Providing police and fire protection is expensive, making up about one third of the spending in the city’s annual budget. City hall cites increased costs of wages and benefits as the biggest driver in city spending. But shouldn’t some wage costs be going down? The city, in recent years, has privatized more and more services that city employees used to provide. Much of the road work done in the city is done not by the Street Department, but by private companies the city hires. Even licensing your pet is now done not by city employees but by private contractors. It would seem that if we’re spending more to hire non-city employees to do work previously done by city employees, we should be seeing a decrease, not an increase, in our property tax bills.
Kent Porter
January 3, 2024 at 6:23 am
Someone has to pay for the. Non working homeless Scott !!!!!
Sean
January 3, 2024 at 7:39 am
I see a school referendum on there too that I thought didn’t pass?
Roy
January 3, 2024 at 7:48 am
If the media were doing a proper job following these spending allocations as they occur, there wouldn’t be any surprises when you open your tax bill. Those in charge at City Hall (know anyone there?) won’t tell you as they are spending.
Mike Sladky
January 3, 2024 at 9:41 am
Robert, the city has to pay for the new “roundabouts” somehow.
Walden
January 3, 2024 at 3:48 pm
The City and County have spent or committed together $50 million is Covid era funding. The La Crosse School District over $10 million.
None of this funding was applied to tax relief. In the case of the school district no-one knows where it went (“to provide excellent educational activities” or some such mush from the superintendent).
When above $ are exhausted, look for the City and County to start their pandering for more money to continue all the “free” programs started under Covid; just as the School District has already done.