(Published Sunday, October 21, 2007 11:58:25 PM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Ann Marie Ames/Gazette Staff
You wouldn't think crossing that invisible line between Janesville and Harmony Township would make a difference.
But when you compare taxes across that line, you could be comparing apples to oranges to tomatoes to snow plows.
One of those invisible lines separates the town with the lowest tax rate in Walworth and Rock counties from the village with the highest tax rate.
Residents of the village of Darien paid more in 2005-$12.53 per $1,000 of equalized value-than any other community in two counties. The 2005 data was the most recent available from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.
Across the line, town of Darien residents paid the lowest rate-39 cents per $1,000.
Just looking at the rates doesn't tell the whole story, village Clerk Connie Machi said. One thing that boosts Darien's rate is the village's assessment ratio, she said.
Properties in the village haven't been assessed since 2003, so the ratio has slid to 88 percent of fair market value, Machi said. Because the levy is figured by multiplying the rate by property values, the rate needs to go up as the ratio goes down if the village is going to collect the money it needs to keep services afloat.
The village board has approved a new assessment for the end of 2008.
Across the line, a regional dump helps keep tax rates low in Darien Township, town Chairman Cecil Logterman said.
In 1991, the town negotiated a contract with Waste Management, which bought and expanded the Mallard Ridge Landfill on Highway 11. Republic now owns the landfill and is responsible if anything should go wrong. But the town has money set aside just in case.
Each year, the town uses $250,000 from earned interest for general expenses.
"It's been a total asset," Logterman said. "I'm not saying every township should have a landfill, but it's been great for us."
Of all the towns in Rock and Walworth counties, the one with the highest tax rate according to the 2005 numbers was the town of Beloit. But that straight number is misleading, said town of Beloit Administrator Bob Muesus.
The town's population is higher than 70 percent of the villages and cities in Wisconsin, Museus said, and it covers 27 square miles.
"It's fair to compare our cost of service to another city of our size rather than another town," Museus said.
Population is just one factor, Museus said. Location, current events and construction and the needs and wants of the residents also are driving forces behind tax bills.
Population also can be misleading when it comes to per capita spending, village of Fontana Administrator Kelly Hayden-Staggs said. At $5,056, the village spends more per person than any other community in two counties.
But Fontana is responsible for much more than the 2,000 people who live there. Vacationers and weekend residents in the lake community make the population swell to at least 8,000, Hayden-Staggs said.
"It's not based on amount of people, based on our experiences, number of facilities we have and what we have to maintain," Hayden-Staggs said. "When comparing tax rates and per capita spending between communities, you really have to know what components you're dealing with."
