(The Center Square) – Wisconsin residents will pay $327.2 million more in K-12 property taxes this year, a 5.7% increase that is the largest increase since 2009.
Last year’s increase was 5.4%, according to a new report from Wisconsin Policy Forum.
The increases come due to per pupil school tax levy increases and the 169 school referenda that have been approved across the state this year.
Those referenda will cost taxpayers a total of $4.4 billion, $3.3 billion of which will come from debt.
K-12 school levies are nearly half of what taxpayers pay in local property taxes each year, with local levies costing $6.1 billion.
Voters have passes at least one school referendum in two-thirds of public school districts in the state since 2021, the report says.
Of the 50 school districts with the largest property tax levies, just 15 have not passed at least one referendum since the start of 2021.
While school district levies are increasing, county levies will go up just 1.3%, the smallest increase of the past 10 years.
Levies will increase 3.3% to $516 million for the state’s 16 technical colleges, according to the report.
