Wisconsin County Clerks Weigh Marriage License Fee Increases

A survey suggests couples in some Wisconsin counties may soon have to pay more to get a marriage license.

Wisconsin County Clerks Association president Karen Gibson said the group recently surveyed counties on whether they planned to increase fees. The findings suggest that local officials in parts of the state are indeed considering raising the cost of obtaining a license to help fund programs or cover staffing costs.

“The county clerk’s office is a service-orientated office. And in order to keep our employees and keep serving those taxpayers, we may need to increase some fees to keep our employees,” Gibson said.

She said Washburn County is the only one that indicated it planned to raise fees, but seven out of the state’s 72 counties responded that they were considering it.

Washburn County Board member Tom Mackie said he’s putting forth a resolution to raise the marriage license fee by $10 to help support services for victims of abuse in the area.

“We can not use levy money because of the levy restrictions that are put upon the county,” he said. “This is one way we can fund the Time Out Abuse Shelter, which would be good for a lot of people.”

Green County Clerk Mike Doyle said he’s considering an increase to cover staff time. He said couples have to provide more information up front to process the online application and they don’t always have what’s needed.

“So we have to basically turn them away … or people get on a cellphone. Our staff is tied up at a computer waiting for them to call somebody to get an answer,” Doyle said.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of Wisconsin counties. The state has 72 counties and 59 responded to the survey. The story has been updated.