Dunn County Board approves $99 million budget for 2024 and $25 million tax levy
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Board has approved a budget of $99,453,355 for 2024 and a property tax levy of $25,561,316.
The 2024 budget that was approved at the county board’s November 14 meeting compares to a budget of $92,546,752 for 2023, representing an increase for 2024 of $6,906,603.
The property tax levy for the 2024 budget compares to a property tax levy of $24,347,863 for the 2023 budget, representing an increase of $1,213,453.
Larry Bjork, county board supervisor from Menomonie, objected to the new positions included in the budget for the sheriff’s department, human services and the jail.
People are paying increased prices for heating oil and gasoline, and they are seeing increased food prices for feeding their families, he said.
Stepping Stones has experienced increased usage of the food pantry and of the pop-up food pantries, Bjork said.
“People are hurting. They do not have the dollars they had a year ago,” he said, noting that breakfast cereal has doubled in price.
Bjork said, as a county board supervisor, he did not like adding positions.
County employees who advance on the wage grid or receive promotions and increased wages should be paid a good wage, he said.
The new positions might all be needed, but so many people are hurting, Bjork said, noting that he wished the highway department did not need more staff so that the county could buy more blacktop, seeing as it costs $140,000 for a mile of blacktop.
During his annual report to the county board earlier in the meeting, Dustin Binder, Dunn County highway commissioner, said that Dunn County’s roads are on a 52 year rotation for replacement, but that the road surface typically lasts for 20 or 25 years, and that it now costs $140,000 to blacktop a mile of road.
The amount of state shared revenue for counties has not increased for many years, and yet there have been many unfunded mandates that have increased the expenses for counties, said Andrew Hagen, county board supervisor from Menomonie.
The money is not coming from the state, so the county must find a way to fund the services that the county is required to provide, he said.
County staff are absolutely doing the jobs they are paid for, said Kelly McCullough, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the Dunn County Board.
The county staff who are receiving raises are doing work commensurate with those raises, he said.
The Dunn County Board approved the 2024 budget on a vote of 22 “yes” to four “no.”
On a separate motion, the Dunn County Board also approved the property tax levy.
Mill rate
The mill rate for the 2024 budget will be $4.97 per $1,000 of property value.
The mill rate for the 2023 budget was $6.26 per $1,000 of property value.
The equalized value for Dunn County has increased by $778 million, or by 18.39 percent.
For 2022, the equalized value was $4,233,247,200, and the equalized value for 2023 is $5,011,580,500.
Readers should note that when the equalized value increases, the mill rate decreases.
A property valued at $150,000 for which the 2023 mill rate applied would have paid county property taxes of $939.
Depending on where the property is located in Dunn County and how much the equalized value increased, with a decreased mill rate, the property might be assessed for more in county taxes or less in county taxes.
Equalized value has increased anywhere from 5 percent to 32 percent in Dunn County.
If the property is still valued at $150,000 for the 2024 mill rate, the property would be assessed for $745 in county property taxes, or $194 less than this year.
If that same property is now valued at $200,000, however, the property would be assessed for $994 in county property taxes, or about $55 more.
If the property is valued at $175,000 for the 2024 mill rate, the property would be assessed at $869 in county property taxes, or about $70 less.
While the mill rate is about 25 percent less for 2024, that does not necessarily translate into a 25 percent reduction in county property taxes across the board.
The largest increases for equalized value in Dunn County have occurred in the Town of Colfax (increased by 24.91 percent); the Town of Elk Mound (increased by 24.43 percent); the Town of Menomonie (increased by 20.47 percent); the Town of New Haven (increased by 21.02 percent); the Town of Otter Creek (increased by 23.11 percent); the Town of Sherman (increased by 24.5 percent); the Town of Stanton (increased by 20.41 percent); the Town of Tainter (increased by 25.95 percent); the Town of Tiffany (increased by 20.83 percent); and the Town of Wilson (increased by 21.31 percent).
The Town of Peru’s equalized value increased by 5.26 percent.
The Villages of Boyceville ($80.57 million), Colfax ($82.96 million), Downing ($15.97 million), Elk Mound ($66.13 million) and Knapp ($30.86 million) all have equalized values that increased by 25 to 27 percent.
The Village of Wheeler’s equalized value increased by 32.61 percent to $13.96 million.
The Village of Ridgeland’s equalized value increased by 19.22 percent to $21.73 million.
The City of Menomonie’s equalized value increased by 15.33 percent to $1.6 billion.
2024 budget
Here are some of the amounts budgeted for expenditures in Dunn County’s 2024 budget:
• Administration — $7,252,205.
• Courts — $1,805,415.
• Corporation counsel — $639,932.
• County clerk — $394,227.
• District attorney — $848,809.
• Emergency communications — $1,553,905.
• Environmental services — $2,230,740.
• Libraries — $793,049.
• Medical examiner — $820,188.
• Public health — $1,684,888.
• Facilities operations — $2,325,947.
• Sheriff’s department — $8,790,767.
• Treasurer — $340,150.
• Debt service — $5,078,813.
• Highway department — $20,241,931.
• Human services — $16,325,467.
• Self-funded health insurance — $8,622,068.
• Self-funded workers’ compensation — $1,089,760.
Tax levy
The property tax levy for the 2024 budget of $24,561,316 is broken down as follows:
• General fund — $10,807,579.
• Special revenue fund — $3,839,761.
• Debt service funds — $5,078,813.
• Highway fund — $4,005,762.
• Public works/bridge aids — $36,352.
• Library purposes taxes — $793,049.
