One-two tax punch lands first hit this year in Port

PORT WASHINGTON - City of Port Washington taxpayers are in for sticker shock in the next two years with tax bills increasing by hundreds of dollars in each of the next two years.

The proposed 2025 general fund budget of $12.3 million is an increase of 18% from the 2024 budget, with the corresponding tax levy up 23%, to $9 million.

To raise the levy, the tax rate is expected to increase 22.4%, from $5.68 per $1,000 assessed value.

That means the owner of a house valued at $300,000 will pay $2,085 in city taxes, an increase of $383.

The following year, that same homeowner will have to come up with $573 more in taxes just to pay for a $33.5 million public safety building — increasing their property taxes by a total of $956 over the two years.

But those aren’t the only increases city residents are facing.

The city water rate, which increased 44% late last year, is expected to increase another 22.5% late next year or in early 2026, bringing the average bimonthly water bill to $170. That money is needed to pay for improvements to the water plant required by the state Department of Natural Resources.

And next year the sewer rates — which are also included on the water bills — will go up 4%, increasing that cost to $73.20 per bimonthly bill.

A presentation on the proposed 2025 budget was given last week by City Administrator Melissa Pingel, who told aldermen that one of the major factors in the increase was the successful spring referendum that authorized the city to increase the tax levy by $1.175 million to increase the number of paramedic/firefighters.

“The city made a decision it was important to us to increase the funding for emergency medical services and fire,” she said.

That decision to hire six full-time paramedic/firefighters also impacted the city’s workman’s compensation payments by $80,000, Pingel noted, because “we will have more people on staff at an increased risk of being injured because they run into burning buildings for us.”

Wages and benefits for the fire and emergency medical services alone will go up by $1.2 million, she noted. Salary increases for all other city staff members total $250,000.

Other challenges facing the city as it compiled the 2025 budget were inflation — “a pretty common challenge all organizations are facing,” Pingel said — increasing costs for equipment, insurance and technology, as well as cybersecurity, supply chain issues and the city’s aging facilities.

She noted that cybersecurity has become such an issue that she meets with the city police on a weekly basis to deal with issues that spring up.

In addition to the public safety building, other major projects tentatively slated for next year are $2.7 million for street projects, $2.8 million for the lighthouse restoration, $1.5 million to design improvements to Valley Creek, $1.5 million for vehicles and equipment and $1 million to renovate the library.

Pingel said grants are playing an increasingly important role in budgeting, noting they will cover 80% of the lighthouse work, 80% of the Valley Creek project and all of the library work.

Pingel noted that one reason the levy is increasing by such a large percentage is that last year the state increased the city’s shared revenue by about $300,000.

The city’s estimated assessed valuation is up 1.1%, or $14.4 million.

The impact of the increase on taxpayers is significant. The owner of a house valued at $200,000 will pay $1,390 in city taxes next year, an increase of $256, while the owner of a $250,000 house will pay $1,738, an increase of $318.

The owner of a house valued at $350,000 will pay $2,433, an increase of $447, while the owner of a $400,000 house will pay $2,780, an increase of $510.

A public hearing on the proposed budget will be held during the Common Council’s 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, meeting.

Aldermen are expected to approve the budget that night.

Mayor Ted Neitzke asked Pingel to compile a list of tax rates for other communities in the region.

“I think it’s an important thing,” he said, noting it will “speak to the value of being in the City of Port Washington.”