Manitowoc County has presented its proposed 2027 budget.
County Executive Tyler Martell presented parts of it during Tuesday’s county board of supervisors meeting.
One of the biggest changes coming next year will be an increase in the property tax levy.
Martell says he doesn’t take that lightly, but he wants to be transparent to taxpayers. The tax levy would be around $35.8 million.
“This means that for the typical Manitowoc County taxpayer, the county portion of the county tax bill will increase by approximately 3.9%,” he explained. “While the tax rate will decrease approximately 2% when you factor in the reduction in the per $1,000 property value.”
Martell also said there will be changes next year after the county has whittled away its reserves in years past, which he wants to end.
He moved on to how he wants to fund the Human Services Department.
While Martell says the budget is balanced with zero, one-time funding transfers, it does come with a cost.
He told the county board, “My proposal to you has cut over $1 million in requested capital projects. It also calls for the elimination of 11 positions in the Human Services Department.”
While that may sound like staff is being laid off, the county executive stated that he enacted a 90-day vacancy review policy.
He added, “Because we wanted to be proactive, all 11 eliminated positions are currently vacant and we are able to avoid any layoffs.”
But Martell added that there are also other issues in the Human Services Department, including the rising costs of state-mandated out-of-home placements for abused and neglected children and the mentally ill.
To try to help offset that, the county executive proposed the creation of a human services stabilization fund.
Martell calls it an emergency fund meant to help absorb major unexpected expenses.
During his speech, he also made a change to how Opioid Settlement funding will be used.
He says it wasn’t good for the county to rely on it to fill gaps in previous county budgets.
“Simply put, we became addicted to opioid settlement funds,” he stated. “And now it is up to us to put Manitowoc County on a path to recovery. My budget proposal does not appropriate any opioid settlement funding. That is over.”
Opioid settlement funding would come through a proposed Opioid Settlement Task Force made up of county leaders and members who have lived experience of overcoming opioid addiction.
Martell then moved to helping its county employees. He would like to see a 2% increase in their salaries, but it would include the return of a performance review process.
One part of the 2027 county budget that remains the same is an aggressive road construction program.
But it will be done differently since Martell wants to reduce annual borrowing and the county’s debt.
“My budget proposal calls for $2.4 million for borrowing in road projects, which is less than we borrowed for last year,” he explained. “This amount will also make sure that we pay off what we take on.”
Martell also wants the county to partner with the Reedsville School District to provide a school resource officer.
He would also want to bring in two new jobs to the county, proposing a network engineering position and bringing in a communications coordinator to help provide a social media presence and help get people online.
Martell finished saying that the budget recognizes that government has to live within its means and that county departments need to separate wants from needs.
Over the next few weeks, department heads will meet to evaluate their department budget and propose amendments.
On Monday, October 26th, there will be a public hearing where citizens can speak about the budget.
The county board will vote on the budget on November 5th.
