Letter to Residents- Property Tax Bills

Dear Fellow River Hills Resident:

Your 2025 property tax bill is included with this letter and the amount of the increase over 2024 is likely to be both surprising and unsettling.  I thought it might be helpful if I tried to explain the reason for the significant increase in the bills that we are sending to all Village residents.   

The property tax levy for the Village this year (the aggregate amount that we can charge residents to collect revenue to fund the Village’s operations; administration, the Police Department, the Department of Public Works and our contributions to the North Shore Fire Department, North Shore Health Department, and the North Shore Library) is $4,308,488.  State law prohibits any increases over that amount absent a public referendum to increase the amount of the allowable levy.  In addition to the Village levy, your School Districts, the County, MATC, and MMSD add tax levies to your annual property tax bill.  More on that below.

You will recall that in November 2022, Village residents approved a $300,000 increase to the levy for five years, which will expire in 2027.  Because of the limitations in the amount by which the levy can be increased under a state law passed in 2010, our revenues have not kept up with the increase in costs to run the Village due to inflation and other factors.  Despite the approval of the referendum, the Village Board faces a daunting annual challenge to balance the budget.  We have been able to do that because of the hard work that our Village Manager puts in each year and the increased amount available as a result of that Village-approved referendum.

Many of you saw significant increases in your property tax bills last year, which was almost exclusively due to referenda passed by voters in the Nicolet School District (Glendale, River Hills, Bayside and Fox Point) in 2021 providing for $3.9 million in annual funding for six years and in 2022 authorizing $70 million for improvements to classrooms, labs, the theater, the library and the football stadium and the construction of a new tennis and pickleball complex. 

This past year, voters approved referenda authorizing additional investments in each of the Glendale-River Hills School District and the Maple Dale-Indian Hill School District.  Voters in the Glendale -River Hills School District approved $4.5 million in additional funding for the school district in each of 2025 and 2026 and the Maple Dale-Indian Hill referendum approved a recurring (that is, permanent) annual expenditure of  $1.75 million to fund its operations.  

Previously, in 2019, voters approved two referenda for the Maple Dale-Indian Hill School District, one allowing the School District to issue debt of $16.3 million for school improvements and one for $980,000    in annual funding for its operations.  

All of these investments are borne by members of the communities in the form of higher property taxes.   The combination of the seven referenda approved by voters has resulted in significant increases in our tax bills.  

Let me offer an illustration on the impact of the seven voter-approved referenda on a $500,000 home in the Village in the Maple Dale-Indian School District and a $500,000 home in the Glendale-River Hills School District, and also to demonstrate how little of your tax bill actually goes to fund the operations of the Village.

The Village Board will meet regularly with the Superintendents of the two School Districts to monitor their performance, the expenditure of your tax dollars and to ensure that they are watching their expenses and being held accountable.

The Village Board also recognizes that it has to look at other funding sources to support the public services that are provided but we are somewhat limited in our options because of the lack of state aid to Wisconsin municipalities.   We are looking at everything but, for now, we have to rely on property tax revenue to fund these obligations.

My best wishes for the holiday season and a Happy New Year.

Best regards,

Christopher B. Noyes

Village President