Eau Claire City Council members discuss potential referendum

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - Eau Claire voters may be asking voters to increase their property taxes.

City council members discussed a potential referendum at Tuesday’s work session. They were unanimous in their support for some sort of ballot question but nothing is set in stone yet. It would go on the November ballot.

They said it’d help pay for city needs including police, fire, public works, parks and more.

“What we’re dealing really is not manageable, it’s untenable,” Councilwoman Jill Christopherson said.

She is talking about the city’s ability to provide basic services at the level people have come to expect.

“Parks have grown, miles of city streets, miles of recreation trails have all increased enormously,” she said.

That growth is not spreading to the city’s budget or staffing levels.

Christopherson said some departments haven’t created new positions in nearly 25 years.

Council President Terry Weld said they’ve been getting by but being creative with the budget will no longer suffice.

“That’s what it comes down to is, you know, what will we have to stop and what services will we have to discontinue and what will we have to say no to,” he said.

Weld added each year the council has tried to bring the budget as tight as it can.

He also said while there’s no official number for the referendum, the city likely needs to raise an additional $1.3 million to $1.7 million each year.

He added further complicating matters, the city is limited in how it can raise that money without a referendum.

The city can only raise property taxes on its own based on how much new construction there was last year, meaning new business or housing developments.

That alone isn’t enough.

“That allows us to, you know, continue to just keep up with cost of living for our staff and benefits, but it doesn’t allow us any opportunity to add,” Weld said.

City Manager Stephanie Hirsch said the increase would be only on property taxes. The city does not have its own sales or income tax.

Weld said council members will likely vote on the referendum at the July 12 meeting.

He also said the city needs the referendum money because it’s so limited in how it raise revenue for its operation budget. Cities have more flexibility to raise money for construction projects like the new library or transit center since it can borrow for that type of spending.

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