Marathon County implemented a wheel tax in 2017. The wheel tax was promised to be in place only for 1 year and most residents believed it was intended to be used to improve Marathon County roads.
In reality, an amount approximately equal to the annual wheel tax (about $3,000,000 per year) went into County Highway reserves.
The annual amount actually spent on paving roads changed very little after the wheel tax was implemented. As shown in the following graph, the property tax levy dedicated to bituminous surfacing (paving) dropped when the wheel tax was imposed, resulting in very little change in total spending on county highway paving.
The County is now considering using the excess highway reserves as partial funding to build a new County Highway Garage.
I am advocating for using the excess highway reserves to actually improve County roads.
There is an item “Presentation on Planning and Funding Plan for Potential Relocation of Wausau Highway Department Facility” on the agenda for the March Educational Board Meeting. Please contact your Marathon County Supervisor and let them know if you would like to see the Highway reserves spent on improving County roads in your municipality or spent on building a new Highway Facility.
Discussion of the funding of and motivations for a relocated County Highway garage will be discussed in an upcoming post.
Next Up: Fighting for Kronenwetter, Part 2: Kronenwetter’s share of the Excess Highway Reserves
Full Disclosure: Please note that I have changed my recommendation since November 2024 upon further reflection and discussions with County residents.
This post is the opinion of David Baker
Paid for by Baker for Kronenwetter President
REFERENCES:
Joint Marathon County HRFC – INFR Meeting Packet
https://www.marathoncounty.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/14492/638714959683070000