We urge city residents to vote YES on the city services referendum by absentee ballot, early in-person voting, or on Election Day on April 7. If the referendum is defeated, the city government will not have sufficient funds to provide all the services that mean so much to our quality of life in Sun Prairie.
If we the voters pass the referendum and the City Council follows the staff recommendation to phase the property tax increase in over three years, the increase in city property taxes from the referendum on the average-value house will be $82 ($7 per month) on the property tax bills we receive at the end of this year.
The City Council did not propose a referendum because the city government is broke or out of money. The city government is in a strong financial position and has a good bond rating.
Wisconsin law limits the possible sources of funding for city services so completely that city governments have no choice but to obtain the vast majority of their revenue from property taxes, much more so than cities in other states. Even if the city’s population were not growing, the cost of providing the city services we expect increases every year, so the city government’s property tax revenue needs to increase every year to cover the cost increases.
But the state levy limit law allows the city government’s property tax levy to increase only by the percentage increase in the city’s property tax base from “net new construction.” This is not enough to cover the increased costs from inflation plus the increased costs from a growing population. As Jerry Deschane of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities said at our recent Community Conversation, for all Wisconsin municipalities, it is not a question of if they will go to referendum but when.
If we defeat Sun Prairie’s referendum, there will need to be cuts in the 2027 city budget to some or all of the following services: street maintenance, parks & recreation, library staffing, sustainability efforts, and more.
Passing the referendum also would enable the city government to hire two additional full-time firefighters, increase pay for part-time firefighters, and add one more patrol officer plus a part-time employee to run the new maker space in the library.
Bill Connors, on behalf of the
Sun Prairie Action Resource Coalition (SPARC)
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