Finance Articles
Election Year Shell Game!
Shell game or voodoo economics – call it what you will, but our leaders in city council don’t want you to know that they can make a 13.9% budget increase look like a 3.2% tax increase because it’s an election year.
Wait – What? How does that happen?
Shorewood’s Spending Spree – $38.2 Million and Growing!
In a little more than 3-1/2 years, the Shorewood City Council and city staff have spent $38.2MM which additionally burdened residents with $23MM in bonding debt.
Another $20.5MM in bonding debt is planned in the upcoming years.
That’s more than $14,000 per household in debt repayments alone.
Shorewood’s $7M budget
Every penny spent, whether on paper clips or a snow plow, comes from your fees and taxes. The budget is the city’s financial plan for the anticipated expenses over the next fiscal year.
As a taxpayer, your participation in the budget process can influence the outcome.
5 Things You May Not Know About Shorewood Budgets
At some point, you may have found yourself in a conversation that you had no idea what the other person was talking about because of acronyms and spurious code words. This could likely be said about technology companies, the stock market, manufacturing, the list goes on.
City finances and budgets are no exception.
$7Million: Shorewood Spends BIG on Engineering Firm Bolton & Menk
Between January 2020 and July 2024 Bolton & Menk billed the City of Shorewood $6,968,361. That’s an average $126,697/mo. or $1,520,364 per year!
The amount of money billed by Bolton & Menk for engineering services in one single year is so staggering that the city could double the number of Public Works employees and still have money to hire 3-4 full time engineers.
Why did the City Council allow this to happen? You decide!
Shorewood 2024 Tax and Rate Increases
At the Dec. 11, 2023 City Council meeting a number of presentations focused on tax and rate increases going into effect for 2024. It’s important to note all rate increases and budgets passed unanimously with little discussion or question from
