The Winnebago County Courthouse in Oshkosh, July 18 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Winnebago County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday to discuss the potential implementation of a 0.5% sales tax.
Leaders ultimately decided to pulled a resolution for the county to draft an ordinance and will revisit the issue Sept. 16.
If they approve the creation of the ordinance next month, they’ll vote on the sales tax as part of the budget in October, with an implementation as soon as April 1, 2026.
According to Winnebago County Executive Gordon Hintz, the sales tax would correspond with a lower property tax rate. Winnebago County Board Vice Chairman Chuck Farrey says the county would garner about $20 million per year.
Of that $20 million, 30% would be redistributed to municipalities based on population size, as outlined in the chart below.
“I wanted to bring it in at this time to ensure revenue sharing,” said Farrey, adding that he thinks a sales tax is inevitable at some point.
But after Tuesday’s meeting, he explained why he thinks the county needs more time to consider.
“So everybody has a better understanding of what the benefit of this is,” said Farrey. “And that is property tax relief — for the city of Oshkosh, Neenah. All the towns would have that opportunity.”
County supervisors debated the sales tax for about two hours and faced opposition from about a dozen residents, with just a few showing support.
“I thought the best way to show something about what I thought of the sales tax proposal was a garbage can,” said Jay Schroeder of Oshkosh. “Because that’s where it belongs.”
An estimated 30% of sales tax revenue would come from non-residents, according to Hintz. It would allow the county to capture revenue from visitors at events like EAA AirVenture and Lifest.
“I mean, right now, county taxpayers subsidize non-residents,” said Hintz. “EAA generates, for instance, a ton of economic activity, but the county doesn’t make any money. The airport costs us money, the sheriff’s department, the highway department. We provide all these services that we subsidize for non-residents that come here.”
However, EAA does pay Winnebago County for using its police services during the week of AirVenture, according to one board member.
Winnebago County ran a $5.2 million deficit in 2024 and is running an $8.6 million deficit in 2025, per Farrey. The county is currently on the hook for the $1.6 million annual maintenance costs for the former UW-Oshkosh at Fox Cities campus.
Of the 72 counties in Wisconsin, only Winnebago and Waukesha do not charge a sales tax.
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