City budget to deliver safety building tax increase

City of Port Washington taxpayers will feel the effect of the borrowing for the public safety building when tax bills are issued this year.

A preliminary budget for the city shows the owner of a house valued at $400,000 will pay $2,210 in city taxes for 2026, an 11.56% increase from last year’s bill of $1,981.

The city’s overall tax levy is increasing $1,097,240, or 12.22%, and of that amount, the vast majority — $1,082,100 — is due to increased debt service, City Administrator Melissa Gossett said during a budget presentation to the Common Council on Oct. 21. 

The tax rate needed to raise the amount levied is $5.53 per $1,000 assessed valuation, a decrease of 20.43%.

But when this year’s reassessment is taken into account, the tax bill for a house valued at $400,000 will increase by $229.

A public hearing on the proposed 2025 budget will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, at the Holiday Inn Express banquet center, where the city is temporarily holding Common Council meetings to accommodate data center protesters.

The Common Council is expected to act on the budget later in the Nov. 4 meeting.  

The proposed 2026 general fund budget of $12.8 million is a 4% increase from last year’s budget of $12.3 million, Gossett said. 

The budget still contains a number of unknowns, including how much health insurance will increase next year — it increased 28% for 2025 — and property, liability and worker’s compensation increases aren’t known either, she said.

Because the state only allows communities to increase their levy by the amount of new construction, the city needs to limit its spending.

“With levy limits, we can’t even keep up with inflation,” Ald. Dan Benning, chairman of the General Government and Finance Committee, said. “That’s why we look for opportunities for development down the road. We don’t want to cut any services to the city.”

To help keep the budget in line, Gossett noted, there are no new vehicles in the 2026 budget, except a previously ordered fire truck, and the city will evaluate all its equipment and vehicles to better determine its needs.

The city has also worked to combine staffing positions, she said, noting the recreation director’s position has been combined with the parks and forestry director, the water and wastewater superintendent positions are now combined and the city opted not to fill the assistant city administrator’s post and instead hire a human resources director.

And, she noted, the city has been successful in seeking grants to pay for many building and facility projects, such as the lighthouse restoration and library renovation.

One of the city’s goals for next year is to continue master planning for the upgrade of aging facilities, Gossett noted.