By Ben Rodgers
Editor

HOBART – The Hobart village board reviewed a comparison of the village to other municipalities in Brown County in terms of the 2019 mill rate at its Tuesday, Jan. 21, meeting.

“Our mill rate, while we publicly said it would be $4.41 (per $1,000 of equalized value) due to a rounding error, it is actually listed on the Brown County website at $4.42,” said Aaron Kramer, village administrator. “As you can see, the difference between this year’s mill rate and last year’s mill rate was 97 cents on a $150,000 home in Hobart, so that was enough to make it go to $4.42.”

Despite the slight increase, Kramer reported the mill rate still ranked as one of the lowest in Brown County.

“Mill rates went up in virtually every municipality, except for Hobart,” he said. “The rounding error does put us up one penny.”

Taxes on a $150,000 home in 2019 for village purposes increased to $662.41.

Here is the mill rate breakdown per $1,000 of equalized value for 2019 in order of lowest to highest as presented by Kramer:

• The Village of Bellevue – $3.04.

• The Village of Howard – $3.84.

• The Village of Hobart – $4.42.

• The Village of Suamico – $4.71.

• The Village of Denmark – $5.26.

• The Village of Ashwaubenon – $5.68.

• The Village of Allouez – $7.36.

• The Village of Wrightstown – $9.04.

• The Village of Pulaski – $9.34.

When comparing the two school districts located in Hobart, the West De Pere school district and the Pulaski school district, residents in the West De Pere district paid more for schools in 2019.

Per $1,000 of equalized value, residents in the West De Pere school district paid $10.41, compared to the Pulaski school district at $9.18.

Other taxing entities include Brown County and technical colleges.

“The main point of this is to show you that our shares remain steadily below one quarter of the tax bill,” Kramer said. “Our mill rate remains static, for the most part, and when you look at the big picture, county-wide, we remain static.”

Kramer said Hobart has held a mill rate at or below $4.42 since 2016, and it will remain at that for 2020.

In other news the board:

• Approved spending $7,825 on two trailers for the public works department.

• Scheduled a public hearing regarding rezoning two lots on Fernando Drive by South Pine Tree Road from exclusive agriculture to agricultural on Feb. 4.

• Heard a request from the Pulaski school district to hold a joint meeting regarding pedestrian safety issues at Hillcrest Elementary School. The meeting could take place in late February or early March.

Finally, coming out of closed session, the board:

• Accepted the retirement of Mary Smith, clerk/treasurer effective April 24.

• Approved a request for proposals, which must include a proposed purchase price and a proposed development plan/proposal, no later than Feb. 29, for property located at 4758 Forest Road.

• Approved the amended development agreement with Southwind Estates LLC for the development of 26.9 acres of real estate, within the Tax Incremental Financing District 2, for the purpose of constructing 45 single-family residential lots, four 14-unit apartment buildings, and two 10-unit apartment buildings, contingent on the approval of a certified survey map for the development and the placement of the village’s restrictive covenants on the property.