Menomonie Minute

Last year, the Menomonie Minute ran a series of articles about the school referendum. The series began with an explanation of property taxes.

It is that time of year when property owners have just received their tax bills for 2024. These bills contain a lot of information, which can be hard to understand, so I am sharing this information again with updates for 2024.

This first article will explain the numbers you see on your property taxes and property valuations.

Before we begin, here are a few things to know:

For most people living in the Menomonie area, there are four taxing jurisdictions on your bill - Dunn County, Chippewa Valley Technical College, the School District of the Menomonie Area, and your municipality. Your municipality will be the city, village, or township that you live in. Anyone living in the Tainter Lake Rehab District will have a fifth taxing jurisdiction.  

The levy is the portion of any taxing entity's budget that needs to be funded by property taxes.

The mill rate is the amount of tax for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value.

Thus, a mill is one-thousandth of a dollar, or $1 of tax for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value.

The basic calculation for the mill rate is the levy divided by the equalized value.

Equalized value is explained below.

PROPERTY VALUATIONS

If you own property, you should have received your property tax statement for 2024. At the very top, you will find the total assessed value and the total estimated fair market value. 

The assessed value is the value the assessor places on your property. It is used to distribute the municipality's tax burden among the individual property owners in that municipality. 

Your assessed value will only increase when the property is reassessed, or major improvements are made, such as adding a garage. For example, the Town of Menomonie was last reassessed in 2015, and for most people, assessments have not changed since then. The Town of Red Cedar was reassessed in 2022, and residents there would have noticed a change on their 2023 tax bill.

Each municipality has its own assessor, although most assessors will work for multiple municipalities. Several assessors cover Dunn County's thirty municipalities. Because assessors may value property at different percentages of market value and because the length of time between reassessments will vary from municipality to municipality, property values are equalized.

The equalized value (or fair market value) is the statutory full market value of all real property within each jurisdiction (except agricultural land, which is valued based on production/earning potential). Equalized values are provided by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR). 

The DOR analyzes market sales statewide to estimate each municipality's full market (or equalized) value. Equalized values provide a means of comparing different municipalities, even if they are assessed at different percentages of market value.

The DOR assigns each municipality an assessment ratio. You'll find this number in a box between the assessed value of your property and the estimated fair market value. The estimated fair market value is your assessed value times the ratio. Every property in the municipality will be multiplied by that ratio.

Examples of assessment ratios in Dunn County - the Town of Menomonie has an assessment ratio of .5816, the City of Menomonie is .7019, and the Town of Red Cedar is .9814. There will be a bigger difference between the assessed value and the fair market value on a property in the Town of Menomonie than in the Town of Red Cedar because the Town of Menomonie has not been reassessed since 2015, and the Town of Red Cedar was reassessed in 2022.

When the difference between the assessed value and the fair market value is too great, the state requires a municipality to reassess. For example, properties in the Town of Menomonie will be reassessed in 2025.

The assessed value is essential for maintaining equity among individual taxpayers within the municipality, while the equalized value maintains equity between municipalities within a taxing jurisdiction (like the county or school district). 

Net Assessed Value Rate: this is the combined mill rate for the county, municipality, school, and tech school (and the Tainter Lake Rehab District, if applicable). This number multiplied by your assessed value equals the gross property tax on your tax bill. However, this is not truly your gross property tax, which will be explained below.

The next article in the series will look at how the net assessed value rate is calculated. The Mill Rate Report for Dunn County, which shows the Net Assessed Value Rate for all municipalities in Dunn County, can be found at the end of this article.

PROPERTY TAX CREDITS

Three credits are applied directly to a property tax bill. 

Lottery Credit – if you are a Wisconsin resident, own your property, and it is your primary residence, a property owner may qualify for this credit.

First Dollar Credit – if there is a real property improvement (a house or other building) on the land, the property qualifies for this credit. 

Both the lottery and first-dollar credits are determined using a somewhat complicated calculation using the assessed value of properties, the assessment ratio, a maximum credit value provided by the state, and the equalized value school rate.

 

The lottery credit and the first dollar credit are the same throughout the school district regardless of property valuations. For the school district of Menomonie, the lottery credit for 2024 is $164.21 (down quite a bit from $190.66 in 2023), and the first dollar credit for 2024 is $51.00 (down slightly from $51.22 in 2023).

School Levy Tax Credit – all taxable real property in Wisconsin qualifies for this credit. This is a very confusing credit and will be discussed in later articles. 

The School Levy Tax Credit is distributed to municipalities based on their share of statewide school levies. The credit reduces individual property tax bills and is not considered a source of revenue by school districts and other local governments when setting their annual budgets and determining their property tax levies.

This school levy tax credit is not shown as a reduction from the gross tax on your tax bill like the First Dollar Credit and Lottery Credit; however, if you look up your tax information online, you will find it subtracted from your gross tax. So, your actual gross property tax includes the school levy tax credit. All property tax information can be found on the Dunn County Treasurer's website. A wealth of information can be found under the section titled Tax Bill Information/Assessment Information.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EQUALIZED VALUE

Equalized value is an important concept that must be understood to understand how property taxes are calculated. Equalized value will be discussed further in the next article.

Apportioning is the process of dividing the tax levies for each taxing jurisdiction among all municipalities in that jurisdiction based on each municipality's equalized value. For example, a county levy is apportioned among all municipalities in the county, and a school levy is apportioned among the municipalities in the school district. 

As previously stated, the DOR analyzes market sales statewide to estimate each municipality's full market (or equalized) value. They provide a report to the county that is used to apportion the county levy among the municipalities. The City of Menomonie accounts for 31.5% of Dunn County's equalized value, so 31.5% of Dunn County's levy will be apportioned to the City of Menomonie. The Town of Menomonie accounts for 8.13% of the county's equalized value and will be apportioned 8.13% of the county levy. The full report from the DOR for Dunn County can be found at the end of this article.

Going back to the assessment ratios discussed earlier in this article, the Town of Menomonie will have much lower assessed values than the Town of Red Cedar, as reflected in the ratios (.5816 vs. .9816). Equalizing the property values makes things equitable between the different townships - the tax apportioned to each township is based on the equalized value, not the assessed value. 

As stated earlier, the assessed value is essential for maintaining equity among individual taxpayers within the municipality, while the equalized value maintains equity between municipalities within a taxing jurisdiction (like the county or school district). 

The next article will discuss how property taxes are calculated, mill rates, and why property taxes in Dunn County are higher than in some neighboring counties.

Sources used for this article include the Dunn County Treasurer's website, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue website, the UW Extension website, articles from the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, the Colfax Messenger, old Dunn County News articles, and interviews with the City of Menomonie Administrator Eric Atkinson, County Manager Kristin Korpela, former Dunn County Treasurer Sifia Jevne, and assessors Randy Prochnow and Kevin Irwin. A huge thank you to these individuals for taking the time to speak with me.   

While all the information contained in this article is believed to be accurate, it is not guaranteed. The user should not rely solely on the information provided and should seek additional information from other sources. While some information was provided through interviews with individuals, any errors are my own.

Please feel free to share any comments or questions you may have about this article. You can send me a message HERE.

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Dunn County Mill Rate Report

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Equalized Values for Dunn County Municipalities - provided by WI DOR

White Pine is a quarterly open stage that offers a relaxed, supportive place for local poets, storytellers and musicians to share their work. Sign up begins at 1:30 p.m. for a 10 minute slot.

Listeners are welcome! Freewill Donation.

From the Facebook event page.

Our Wakanda Wonderland trees, decorated by local businesses and organizations, will remain available for viewing and voting until January 3rd, so stop by during museum hours if you haven't had a chance to see them yet. (Jan. 2 from 2pm-8pm and Jan. 3 from 11am-5pm)

From the Dunn County Historical Society Facebook page.

Ohly Americas is proud to announce the launch of the Ohly Americas Fund, a donor-advised fund dedicated to supporting Boyceville schools and families.

The fund’s first initiative focuses on enhancing education through Teacher Mini Grants. This year, three impactful projects were funded:

Miranda Monica, Boyceville High School:

Workplace Basics & Marketing Growth/Development – $759 to provide students with hands-on experience running a school store, using a laser engraver to create customized products.

Taryn Score, Boyceville Middle School:

Fitness Improvement – $250 to purchase fitness testing equipment, helping students assess and improve their health.

Erin Reisimer, Tiffany Creek Elementary School:

Spanish Resources – $491 to add Spanish-language books to the library, fostering literacy and inclusivity for Spanish-speaking students and their families.

In addition to supporting classrooms, the Ohly Americas Fund is addressing student lunch debt in Boyceville Community Schools, helping families start the new year with a clean slate and relieving financial stress.

What sets this fund apart is the active involvement of Ohly Americas employees, who contribute to the fund and participate in selecting the grants. This unique approach exemplifies the company’s commitment to community-driven giving and creating a meaningful impact.

For more information about the Ohly Americas Fund and its impact, visit https://cfdunncounty.org/ohly-americas-fund/.

Media release from the Community Foundation of Dunn County.

Betty J. (Mrdutt) Wisemiller, age 86, of Boyceville, WI, peacefully passed into the arms of her Heavenly Father on Friday, December 27, at Our House Assisted Living in Menomonie, WI.

She was born January 31, 1938, in Chicago, IL, to Joseph and Irene (Halama) Mrdutt. As a young girl, Betty’s family moved to the Boyceville, WI area, where she graduated from Boyceville High School in 1956. After graduation, she worked in the office for Hedlund Manufacturing in Boyceville.

Betty married Arlen Wisemiller on August 15, 1959, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Boyceville. They built a house south of Boyceville and eventually started farming. While Arlen continued hauling milk, Betty stayed home with their five children and occasionally drove the milk truck as well. Later, they purchased Boyceville Oil Company, where Betty kept the books. After they sold that business, she worked for many years as a waitress at the Downing Cafe. She enjoyed her customers and was a perfectionist when it came to food and service.

Betty was a lifelong member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Faith and family were always her top priorities. She enjoyed attending her children’s, grandchildren’s, and great-grandchildren’s events. Not known for “holding back,” they always knew she was there! Betty was known for her awesome Slovak cooking and baking, a skill she passed to her granddaughters and grandsons! She was active as a 4-H general leader and was a member of the Dunn County Homemakers. She and Arlen spent time at their lakeside trailer in Cumberland. Most Sunday afternoons, they could be found on a drive with their dogs, which usually ended with a pizza supper by the lake.

Betty is survived by:

Daughter, Lori (John) Bekkum of Colfax, WI, and their children Casey (Samantha) Bekkum, son William; Blake (Katelyn) Erickson, children Keegan, Easton, and a granddaughter expected in February; Jacob Erickson (Leigha Prudlow) and their baby expected in June; Nikolus Bekkum.

Son, Randy (Brenda) Wisemiller of Billings, MO and their son Zachary (Wreatha) Wisemiller, son William.

Son, Christopher (Lynette) Wisemiller of Boyceville and their children Lindsay (Scott) Wroblewski, daughters Hattie and Cora; Heather Wisemiller, son Louis; Travis (Katie) Glaser, children Tennlee, Owen, and Navvy. Eric (Ashlee) Wisemiller, children Dane, Isla, and Lily; Ashley Glaser (Jason Wirth); Danielle Schindele (Andrew Stocker).

Son, Timothy (Penny) Wisemiller of Amboy, IL and their children Jessica (George) Story, sons, Riley and Jonas; son, D.J. Ward.

Daughter, Bethany Novotney (Dave Langer); children Shayleigh Novotney (Ty Stecklein), son, Rhyker; son, Noah Novotney.

Sisters-in-law, Mary Jo Mrdutt and Louise (Jim) Sneen; godchildren, Stacey Mrdutt and Jim Mrdutt, many nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.

Betty was preceded in death by her husband Arlen; her parents and brother Ronald Mrdutt; in-laws, Lloyd Wisemiller, Clarice and Harry Rubusch; brother-in-law Allen Peterson; grandsons, Joshua and Aaron Wisemiller; great-granddaughter Sophia Wroblewski and son-in-law Michael Erickson.

Visitation will be from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 5, at Olson Funeral Home in Menomonie, WI. Funeral services will be at 11:00 am on January 6, 2025, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, N11550 County Road O, Boyceville, WI, with Pastor Michael Penikis officiating. Family and friends are welcome at the church one hour prior to the service on Monday. Burial will be at Tiffany Cemetery in Boyceville.

To share a memory, please visit obituaries at www.olsonfuneral.com.

- Noon Registration

- $10/entry

- Bring a crockpot full of your favorite recipe

- 3pm - Winner takes all, plus bragging rights!

- Customers will judge their favorite

From the Facebook event page.

Join us Wednesday, January 15th, for a fun evening of sea shanty singing from 7:00pm to 8:30pm at Brewery Nonic. The event is free to attend, everyone is welcome, and no preparation is required.

From the Facebook event page.

Calling all Specialty Crop Growers!

Do you grow vegetables, flowers, mushrooms, seeds, Christmas trees, nursery stock, honey, hops, maple sap, or any other specialty or niche crop for market? Have you heard about the MASC program? This is a rare opportunity being offered through the USDA to get some financial support for these efforts in 2025, but the application period ends January 8. Get help filling out the forms and learn more about what you’ll need to complete an application.

More information and registration is here:

https://www.gofarmconnect.org/.../masc-work-session-in...

The event is being hosted by farmer Erik Heimark, from Maple Ridge Produce, who is Go Farm Connect's Farm Business Management Specialist. He will be joined by Alondra Cano, Go Farm Connect Spanish Language Specialist, and other experienced farmers, USDA staff, and the Farm Service Agency's (FSA) Heather Kirkpatrick, County Executive Director for Dunn County. Growers from Dunn County and elsewhere are welcome to attend - you do not need to own land or already be signed up for federal farm programs to attend or participate in the MASC program.

“This is a rare day for Specialty Crop farmers– Let's make the most of it! Come learn how to complete the forms and (hopefully) leave with a completed application!" says Heimark, who has years of experience working with fellow farmers on USDA applications.

For more information contact Erik: 218-232-1303 [email protected]

More information and registration is here:

https://www.gofarmconnect.org/.../masc-work-session-in...

WHAT IS MASC?

The Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program provides financial assistance to specialty crop producers to help them expand domestic markets or develop new markets for their crops.

“Specialty crop growers have typically faced higher marketing and handling costs relative to non-specialty crop producers due to the perishability of fruits, vegetables, floriculture, nursery crops and herbs,” said FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. “Through this marketing assistance program, we can expand U.S. specialty crop consumption and markets by providing specialty crop producers the financial support needed to help them engage in activities that broaden and enhance strategies and opportunities for marketing their commodities.”

WHAT TO BRING TO THE WORK SESSION

If you are already working with the USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) or Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the process will be very easy. Just make sure you have production/sales records for either 2023 or 2024 with you, in any form. If you haven't yet participated in federal farm programs, you will need to get signed up and you can do it at the work session. You will need these things:

-Name of your farm business, and the business address (this can just be you, if you have not organized into a business entity)

-You will need to provide your name, address, phone, email, and Social Security number (or From I-551/Green Card) to USDA.

-If you have a farm business, you will need to have the TIN or EIN number.

-You will need production records from 2023 and/or 2024, in any form such as a spreadsheet, notebook, laptop computer, or even a shoe box of invoices/receipts. If you don't have this, we may be able to create one with you on the spot from a narrative you tell us.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE

MASC covers the following commercially marketed specialty crops grown in the US:

Fruits (fresh, dried)

Vegetables (including dry edible beans and peas, mushrooms, and vegetable seed)

Tree nuts

Nursery crops, Christmas trees, and floriculture

Culinary and medicinal herbs and spices

Honey, hops, maple sap, tea, turfgrass, and grass seed

About Go Farm Connect:

Are you lost in an alphabet soup of federal acronyms? Need help finding the right resources?

Navigating USDA programs can be overwhelming, confusing and intimidating. We get that! We've pulled together an experienced team of farmers to help you connect to the right programs. We offer FREE services that focus on different aspects of building a successful farm business. We can provide a Connector to be a personal guide, coach, and ally who shares your goal of running a successful farm operation.

Go Farm Connect is a farmer-led initiative to build relationships between historically underserved specialty crop farmers (beginning, women, veterans, BIPOC and new Americans) and federal farm agencies. Our Connectors are trained to help farms of all sizes and specialties in Minnesota and Wisconsin access agricultural assistance programs. The three-year project is led by Renewing The Countryside in partnership with the US Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, and Natural Resources Conservation Service. Registration through this link is helpful so that USDA staff can be aware of what questions you might want answered. Go Farm Connect staff may take photos and videos at this event to promote programs and future events.

Register HERE.

From the Facebook event page.

From the Dunn County Facebook page.