local mill rate down two cents, overall rate up 85 cents

by Joseph Back

Want to pay your two cents to the local Boyd government? Better redirect that to the state. The local mill rate in Boyd Wisconsin is set to go down by two cents to $5.97 per $1,000 in equalized property value, but due to measures outside the control of the Trustee Board, the overall mil rate for Boyd is set to rise by 85 cents to $17.91, offset by a state credit from being another 142 cents higher yet. So where does that locally raised $5.97 per thousand get spent, in part?

The details are in the pie chart.

Starting out on the side of revenues, the local Boyd government is financed with $131,544 in general property tax, representing a rise of 2.76 percent from 2020, when it was $233 less. Following General property tax in Boyd is the “Property Tax equivalent,” otherwise unchanged at $8,000, while a net 100 percent DECREASE in special assessments for the past two years mean that local village residents can enjoy a net total of $0 in extra special assessments. Meanwhile in State Shared Revenues, the village is due to net $215,100, a decrease of 0.28 percent from the year before, when it was $216,674. At the same time, State Highway Aid remains unchanged in dollar amount at $32,000 for 2021, while Intergovernmental Revenues (payments of governments to governments) are set to net the local Boyd people some $15,950, up by $1,550 from the year before, when such revenues were $14,400. Meanwhile, Fines and Forfeitures as a source of village financing are set to remain unchanged at $3,800 while Public Charges and Donations are due to rise by four dollars to $5,154. Miscellaneous Revenues are due to rise in the meantime by $4,500 dollars to $11,000 from being $6,500 in 2020, with Funds Applied remaining the same and Reserve for Capital Expenditures decreased by 108 percent from $52,000 in 2020 to come out at $25,000 for 2021. Lower taxes, less reserve—anything else throws the math out of balance. Shifting over from revenues to expenditures, meanwhile, General Government is set to total just under 30 percent of the overall budget at $147,645, while Public Safety takes up a just over a quarter of the 2021 budget at $126,575. This represents a net increase of $2,500 in dollar terms, meaning that local public safety can still be counted on, financed by tax dollars. A luxury by pioneer standards but standard to the modem day is the Public Works budget, with $171,340 out of a total $493,863 budget being devoted to good water, good streets, and good sewers, along with paying the people that maintain them. Acting at its December meeting, the village board gave Public Works employees a two percent increase in wages, which also applied to police and clerks. Due to procedural questions, the increase for Deputy Clerk Jayne Geist was set apart from the others, and Trustee Bob Geist (who is married to Jayne) abstained from voting on that particular raise, per good government practices. Moving on from public works and employee raises to Culture

See BUDGET, Page 3 BUDGET

FROM PAGE 2

and Recreation, a full $22,633 is dedicated in the 2021 village budget for this category, while $22,690 was dedicated in 2020, representing a net decrease in funding, if only $57.

At the same time Conservation and Development dollars stayed the same at $670, while Capital Expenditures decreased by 108 percent to $25,000 in 2021 (the same as a decrease in reserve for Capital Expenditures on the “revenue” side).

But while it might be nice to not have any Special Assessments this also means $0 allotted to Transfer Funds from Tax Incremental Finance (TIF) district number 2, Closing out the general budget report for 2021 in Boyd are a total of $21,400 in Property Tax Debt Service balanced out with $17,000 in payment on the long-term note and $4,400 in interest on the long-term note, the latter a net increase of 10 percent.

All told, revenues and expenditures balanced each other out to match exactly, in both percentages and real dollar terms. As such, we share our two cents: Send