Brown County Board Passes 6-Year County Sales Tax

The Brown County Board voted Wednesday night to pass an extra 0.5 percent sales tax beginning in January.

The added tax will last for six years and pay for renovations to libraries, the county jail and road work projects, among other things.

Money from the tax will be allocated as follows:

• $60 million for roads and facilities.
• $20 million for the county jail and mental health facilities.
• $20 million for the library.
• $15 million for the Expo Hall redevelopment.
• $10 million for the Resch Expo Center maintenance.
• $10 million for public safety and medical examiner projects.
• $6 million for fairgrounds and parks.
• $5 million for STEM innovation center.
• $1 million for Neville Public Museum.

Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach said the money will also help pay down $135 million in debt.

“I think this is bold leadership on behalf of the Brown County Board of Supervisors basically saying to the Brown County people we’re going to provide for debt reduction, tax relief and investment in the overall community,” he said.

All of the proposed projects must now be approved individually by the county board.

The county also plans to set $15 million from the tax aside to help build a new Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena. The arena will cost $95 million in full, the bulk of which will likely be paid for through an increased room tax.

Members of the Brown County Taxpayers Association question the cost of some of the projects.

Association President Rich Heidel said his organization supports the building of a new arena, but said he believes it should be done entirely through a room tax, not a county-wide sales tax. He also questions if the added sales tax will lead to lower property taxes, as the board as said.

Heidel added his association questions what will happen to any potential excess tax collections from the total package of projects.

“That’s where most of the heartburn is,” he said, noting he believes some of the projects have not been fully vetted out. “We feel that the numbers for many of these projects are inflated.”

Heidel said Brown County has authority to increase its room tax above the state maximum of 10 percent because it has outstanding debt on other civic projects including the downtown KI Convention Center.

When the tax takes effect in January, Brown County will become the 65th of Wisconsin’s 72 counties to have enacted the tax.

The county had the tax between 2000 and 2015, it helped pay for renovations to the Green Bay Packers’ Lambeau Field.

County Supervisor Bill Clancy supports the new sales tax, even though he disapproved of the initial half cent sales tax to be used on Lambeau Field.

Now, he says infrastructure needs to be improved.

“We’ve got a jail out there that’s almost at 97 percent capacity. There has to be something done out there,” Clancy said. “We’re trying to get a pod or building out there to take care of people who shouldn’t be in jail, that have mental health problems who can be treated separately.”