- New Berlin Budget Hub
- Tax Comparison: How New Berlin Stacks Up
Tax Comparison: How New Berlin Stacks Up
Equalized Tax Rate Comparison
Individual tax bills are based on assessed value, which is determined by each municipality at varying times. Equalized, or full value, is an estimate of the total value of property within a community and is computed annually by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue. Equalized value can be used to compare tax rates between communities.
New Berlin has one of the lowest equalized tax rates among comparable municipalities in the metro Milwaukee area.
The following graph illustrates a comparison of the City of New Berlin’s 2023 Municipal Property Tax Rate per $1,000 with selected communities in the region comparable to our size.
Why is Balancing the Budget Becoming More Difficult?
Creating a balanced city budget is no longer as straightforward as it once was. Even as New Berlin grows and service needs expand, state-imposed limitations and rising costs have made it increasingly challenging to fund essential services without difficult trade-offs. Here’s why:
- 1State-Imposed Levy Limits:
- Under Wisconsin law, municipalities are subject to strict levy limits, which cap how much property tax revenue a city can raise from year to year—regardless of inflation or actual service demand. These limits are typically tied to new construction growth, not to increases in operating costs or population. As a result, even cities that are growing must do more with relatively the same amount of property tax funding.
- 2Rising Costs of Essential Services:
- Like households and businesses, municipalities face increasing costs each year. Fuel, equipment, utilities, labor, and insurance costs have all risen sharply. Critical areas like public safety, elections, infrastructure maintenance, and IT security now require more resources to maintain service levels and ensure reliability.
- 3Stagnant or Declining Revenues:
- While expenses have gone up, intergovernmental revenues, including state shared revenue, have remained flat or even declined over time. These are funds that cities rely on to supplement property taxes, and they have not kept pace with the rising cost of delivering services.
- 4Growth that Outpaces Funding:
- New Berlin continues to attract residents and businesses, adding to service demands—from road maintenance to police and fire response. However, levy limits are not indexed to population growth, meaning the City does not automatically receive more revenue to serve new homes, businesses, or residents.
The Result: A Budget Squeeze
New Berlin is not alone in facing these financial constraints. Communities across Wisconsin are grappling with the same reality: the cost of providing essential services is rising, but the tools to pay for them have not kept pace.
Even well-managed, financially responsible municipalities are being stretched thin—not because of poor planning, but because of state-imposed levy limits, stagnant funding sources, and rising service demands. The pressure is mounting across the state, and New Berlin is no exception.
To continue providing high-quality services that residents rely on every day, the City must consider alternative funding strategies, such as:
- *Implementing or adjusting local user fees to better reflect the actual cost of services
- *Delaying or scaling back non-critical services and capital projects to prioritize core needs
- *Seeking voter approval through referenda to increase funding for essential services
- *Applying for competitive grants or one-time funding where available
These are not easy choices, but they are necessary steps to ensure that New Berlin remains a safe, vibrant, and well-run community in the face of growing financial pressures shared by cities across Wisconsin.