Friends! I’m having a lot of fun in my new job writing for the esteemed non-newspaper the ‘Oshkosh Southeastern’…so continuing this format for this week’s recap.

Budget hearing was last night. I think it went VERY well (video is here if you would like to watch the whole thing : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCAIFFObvCE).

Very little has changed since my longer workshop recap on the same subject (it’s here if you’d like to read or revisit), so there isn’t a ton to recap.

First though, wanted to touch on a subject:
This is (I hope obviously) not a real newspaper. Earlier this week I had a good conversation with an Oshkosh citizen who was convinced that the tax levy in Oshkosh for 2025 was increasing. This opinion easily based, through no fault of theirs at all, on an article that a real newspaper printed, and shared widely, that said the levy was increasing by nearly 3%. To that news outlet’s credit, the headline DID say ‘City of Oshkosh Proposes’…and then went on to call 3% a ‘significant increase’, and then originally contained quite a bit of truly totally false and misleading information, that thankfully, when I pointed it out, was corrected.

What that article SHOULD have explained was how the budget process in Oshkosh (and h*ck probably all cities) actually works)… it’s like this:

The city PROPOSES a budget to council (it’s lots of work, they meet with departments to establish needs, changes, etc…then look at what is allowable with regard to state statutes etc. Lots of time and effort and thought into that process). THEN that budget is presented to council (as we discussed, over 2 days and 16 hours). Council listens to all departments, reviews every page, and weighs that against what we hear from LITERALLY YOU to make a final recommendation back to staff as to the budget we want to vote on. (As a side note, I do want to commend my fellow councilors for doing a great job with this. We had lots of great discussions, and I believe all of us are happy with where we landed). THEN (still not done with the process) there is a public hearing of the new proposed budget (so that everyone…YOU…can come and listen in person/online etc…and wonderfully, folks did!). And THEN… the budget and its amendments are formally presented back to council for a vote. This is happening next Tuesday. I do not anticipate any changes between now and then (however your feedback is still welcome).

When I pointed ALL of the above out to the nice person who was insisting that the levy was still increasing, they STILL did not believe me, and just shared a screenshot of the article stating that the levy was increasing.

THIS… is why I thought a fun fake newspaper that contains only 100% objective facts only as ‘reported’ by someone who is always involved and accessible to you might be a good idea. We’ll see if that works (and moral of that story is feel free to share THIS headline, which really DOES represent what is happening in your city).

SO… back to the recap: No substantial changes to department budgets from last time. Enhancements included are for more parks employees and for a Downtown Oshkosh Outreach program (read more about that one here).

Your new tax rate for 2025 is $8.1396 (let’s just say $8.14). There is a slight change here from last week as the state has a valuation for manufacturing properties that does make a slight adjustment to the formula. I don’t want to get all of the way back in the weeds on how we got to that number, but do want to reiterate that it is for reason and with purpose.

$8.14 represents and equalized value of ratio between (primarily) commercial and residential. Your council asked for this so that we could have a rate that, as much as possible, negates some of the negative affects of a shift of value from commercial TO residential based on a failed revaluation. It is important to remember that in general, and nationally, there is the same shift occurring as residential property is truly becoming more valuable than commercial. The valuation here, without taking a look at and reallocating some funds, would have been shifted unfairly. This new rate of $8.14 mitigates that to a great degree, and I am VERY happy that we were able to make that happen.

Lots of folks have reached out to me to ask if there is now enough information to calculate their bill for next year, and there is. It’s pretty simple:

Take your new valuation (it can be found here if you no longer have the paper. And FYI, that site needs to be very specific with whether your road is an Ave. or a St. and N. or S…. keep trying…it’s fiddly). Go to the tab on the left hand side called ‘assessments’. the number next to ‘total’ is your newest value. Divide that number by 1000, then multiply by $8.14, and that is your new CITY tax rate. If you would like to compare that to last year, first copy your parcel id from the assessor page, and then go here. Paste your parcel ID (only, no other details needed) in the correct tab, then click ‘view bill’ next to 2023 line, THEN click ‘view bill image’ at the top of that page…and you’ll be able to see your full tax bill from 2023, with the city portion itemized to compare to the new amount you just computed (I promise all of that is easier to do than to read!) .

The few folks that I have gone through that exercise with seem to be pleased with the results. As you are looking, please also keep in mind that the line for OASD levy is a 5% levy decrease as well, which will be savings. County is apparently not finished yet, but likely to be an increase. We will see.

SO… hope that helps, hope the headline helps (please show your friends!). Any questions, comments, concerns I am always here for it…just holler!

thanks for reading,

-kris