By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
HOBART – The village has experienced another “significant increase” this year in its equalized property value, based on preliminary numbers from the State of Wisconsin, Village Administrator Aaron Kramer reported at the Tuesday, Aug. 6, Hobart village board meeting.
“The village experienced an 8 percent growth in equalized value to $971.5 million, so we’re just $29 million away from a billion,” Kramer said. “The 8 percent increase comes on the heels of a 10 percent increase in 2018.”
In terms of dollars, Kramer said the village’s equalized property value grew by around $76 million in 2019, slightly less than the increase of around $79.6 million in 2018.
Kramer said the vast majority of the village’s equalized property value is residential ($763 million), followed by commercial ($153 million) and industrial ($32 million), while the greatest percentage growth occurred in industrial (93 percent).
“We virtually doubled our industrial base, and commercial had a healthy 14 percent growth,” he said.
Since 2003, Kramer said the village’s equalized value has virtually doubled.
In the village’s two Tax Increment Districts, Kramer said TID No. 1 has an equalized value of around $188 million, an increase of 10 percent over the 2018 valuation, while TID No. 2 shows a 39 percent increase this year to around $71.6 million, the second straight year TID No. 2 had growth exceeding 30 percent.
“All those financial metrics are healthy,” he said.
Kramer said Hobart’s net new construction, which is tied to the village’s ability to increase the tax levy limit, was the second highest percentage for growth for Brown County’s municipalities with only Wrightstown having a higher percentage.
“Wrightstown was up 8.6 percent, we were up 4.8 (percent), or $43 million,” he said. “That is new construction, not somebody had their value changed by pushing a button on a computer. That is brick and mortar.”
Preliminary figures provided to the board show Hobart ranks second this year in the county for the dollar amount of increase in net new construction, second to only the City of Green Bay with almost $75 million. The Village of Ashwaubenon ranks third with around $40 million in net new construction.
“Single-handedly, we brought in over $43 million worth to the county, which in itself represents 11 percent of all new net construction in Brown County,” Village President Rich Heidel said. “We’re one of 24 municipalities, yet we lay claim to more than one-tenth of net new construction in the county.”
Based on what’s being constructed and proposed in the village, Kramer said a slowdown isn’t being seen in Hobart.
“I would be shocked if we didn’t have another 5-10 percent growth in 2020 and go over $1 billion in value,” he said. “Those are all positive metrics as we go through the budget cycle again.”