Oshkosh last conducted a property evaluation in 2017 prior to last year.
OSHKOSH – Common Council is continuing to address the city’s property tax concerns.
Oshkosh will now conduct property revaluations every five years, beginning with a planned assessment in 2025, to avoid a repeat of the revaluation calamity that resulted in this year’s spike in property taxes.
City council unanimously passed the resolution 7-0 during the June 10 common council meeting after Oshkosh’s failure to conduct regular property evaluations saw the combined assessed value of residential properties jump by 53% last year.
“It’s to the point where we can remove some of the shock from evaluations while also providing a consistent policy,” said council member Jacob Floam in support of the new resolution.
Prior to 2024, Oshkosh last conducted a property evaluation in 2017 while state law requires that assessments are within 10% of the full property value in a five-year range.
The city’s assessor’s office was forced to conduct a revaluation last year as Oshkosh’s below 70% of fair market value.
Former City Manager Mark Rohloff revealed Oshkosh’s values were below 70% of that fair market value last year at that time, forcing the city’s assessor’s office to conduct a revaluation.
The combined assessed value of residential properties increased by 53% and the Department of Revenue found the new values to be compliant at 101% of the estimated full market value.
Common council lowered the tax rate and levy in an effort to minimize the impact, but most homeowners still saw significant increases in their 2025 property tax bills.
According to the city’s Long Range Finance Committee, the previous cost of conducting a full inspection revaluation of commercial properties is $285,000. Residential revaluations done by the city’s assessor department are estimated at $85,000.
But under the new resolution, revaluations will no longer be treated as single line items in a budget, with the process being funded through Oshkosh’s general fund balance instead.
City staff can also decide if there needs to be a full revaluation if properties are found to be within the required 10% range of full property value.
“For me, this is very well balanced. It gives us flexibility and it also gives us some clarity on the cost,” Floam said.
Homeowners were left with an uneven share of the 2025 tax pie after commercial properties were assessed at only 85% of their full market value.
Oshkosh’s property taxes were further compounded when an outside firm assessed the city’s commercial properties at what the DOR determined to be only 85% of their full market value.
State law prohibits the use of old values following a revaluation, forcing homeowners to take an even greater share of the 2025 property tax pie.
In response, Oshkosh passed a resolution requesting the state legislature to allow municipalities to revert to previous property valuations in cases where revaluations result in huge disparities between commercial and residential property values.
Common council also asked the state to fully fund the Municipal Services Payment program so taxpayers will no longer subsidize state-owned property like UW-Oshkosh.
The MSP program reimburses municipalities for police, fire and waste management ser-vices to property tax-exempt, state-owned facilities, but state legislature only funds it at 37.62%.
Oshkosh receives just more than $1 million from the MSP. However, the city is the third-largest holder of such facilities in Wisconsin with around $900 million worth of state-owned property.
State legislature only funds the MSP at 37.62%, leaving taxpayers to subsidize state-owned properties like UW-Oshkosh.
Currently, state legislature only funds that program at 37.62%, with Oshkosh receiving just more than $1 million from the MSP.
Oshkosh would receive $2.7 million from the state under a fully funded MSP.
In his recent biennial budget proposal, Gov. Tony Evers recommended adding $17 million to the MSP — a move that would see the state legislature nearly doubling the funding to 72%.
The 2025-27 biennial state budget is slated to pass July 1.
Contact Justin Marville at jmarville@gannett.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @justinmarville.