GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Putting pen to paper made the Brown County 2019 budget official on Friday.
The Brown County budget for 2019 was signed by County Executive Troy Streckenbach in the presence of various department heads at the Aging & Disability Resource Center of Brown County.
Highlighted in the plan is a comprehensive plan to slash debt, continued investments in infrastructure, and lower property taxes.
But this didn’t all come together overnight. Friday’s signing was rather the culmination of a long-term plan aimed at addressing a series of targets within the county.
“Today we’ve decided to sign this budget to represent the overall plan that we introduced back two years ago,” says Streckenbach.
This budget is significant in the sense that some components related to overall debt and taxes are being changed to numbers that haven’t been achieved in quite some time.
“Our debt is going to be lower for the first time in over a decade,” explains Streckenbach. “We have the largest tax break cut that Brown County has seen in over a decade.”
The 2019 mill rate is going to be lowered by10 cents, from $4.56 to $4.46, and the counties debt will be reduced by over $12.9 million.
That reduction will drop the total outstanding debt of the county to under $100 million for the first time in over 10 years.
“As municipal governments struggle to balance their budgets, Brown County is slashing taxes, paying off our debt burden to the lowest level it has been in over 10 years and investing in needed infrastructure without having to borrow or perform accounting gimmicks to do it,” he says.
Other local officials on-hand agreed that the newly signed budget will give the county momentum heading into the new year.
“You look at this budget, it’s a solid budget, and it’s good for the people of Brown County,” says County Supervisor Pat Evans.
Along with lowering property taxes and reducing debt, the new budget has included a series of initiatives that have addressed improving road safety, utilizing research for cover crop production, fighting ageism, and expanding technology-based programming within public schools.
“It’s positive to show that a local government can reduce taxes for the property owner, while still continuing with all their services and fixing our infrastructure,” says Evans.
The proposed budget was approved by the county board with a vote of 24-2 on October 31.
