Damakant Jayshi

The Wausau City Council on Tuesday adopted the 2023 budget with aprojected revenue of $129 million and tax levy proposed at $34.6 million.

Wausau’s tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value is about $10.60. After minimal discussion on the figures, the council passed the 2023 budget by a majority vote, 10-1, with Alder Tom Kilian the lone no vote.

At a scheduled public hearing on the Wausau 2023 budget last week, Mayor Katie Rosenberg made a brief presentation of the budget that includes upgrades to the city’s facilities and employee raises while accounting for inflation. Some of the biggest investments include $21.7 million for public safety and the three large utility expenditures – $89 million for sewer, $44.7 million for drinking water, and $17 million for granular activated carbon technology. GAC is the filtration system that will remove PFAS from the new drinking water treatment facility.

Although there was little discussion on the numbers, council members held a brief debate over Alder Doug Diny’s proposal to not modify the 2023 budget for the first half of 2023.

Alder Lisa Rasmussen, who chairs Finance Committee, cautioned her colleagues on the proposal, saying passing it would hamstring the council’s response to any unforeseen circumstances and would limit the city’s options to respond to any emergency situation. The motion failed 10-1, with all the alders except Diny voting it down.

Diny then proposed another amendment to the budget for creating a new position of a city administrator.

Alder Becky McElhaney raised point of order after Diny distributed materials supporting his proposal because the documents were not in the packet and not known to the city’s residents. Assistant City Attorney, Nathan Miller, suggested that Diny could read aloud his amendment to the budget to avoid any violations of open meetings law.

Diny proposed creating the new position beginning July 1 next year, at a total cost of $129,000 funded by the 2022 surplus. The amendment failed due to lack of a second to the motion.

No one from the public provided input on the budget this week, a sharp contrast to talks at Marathon County that drew fierce debate on several proposed items. The Finance Committee has been holding budget sessions and making changes to budget proposals over the past several weeks.