Referendum on Taxes - Repeal Wheel and Street Light Taxes

The Village of Oregon has a budget problem. Expenses are teetering on the edge of exceeding revenues. The Village is facing a choice between raising taxes and cutting services. Rather than go to a referendum to let voters decide what to do, the Village has been playing games to balance its budget.

For years balancing our budget was done at the expense of our municipal workers. As our budget got squeezed, their cost-of-living raises were cut, and their wages shrank in real value.

So it wasn’t surprising that when the Village commissioned a compensation study in 2022, the results showed our workers were underpaid by an average of 6% in relation to other communities in Dane county. Some of our positions (those predominately staffed by women) were underpaid by as much as 25%.

Now, the only thing worse than underpaying your workers is conducting a compensation study to let them know how much they are being underpaid, and then doing nothing about it. That is a recipe for loosing skilled, experienced workers.

Realizing that the Village risked losing workers to surrounding communities, the Village gave them a pay raise funded by passing a new Wheel Tax and Street Light Tax. The Village once more avoided letting the voters decide.

Voters should have a say in how they are taxed. The Village should organize a referendum to let the voter decide if taxes will go up or services will be cut.

The Wheel Tax and Street Light tax are highly regressive. What that means is that poorer residents pay a greater percentage of their income in taxes than higher residents. For example, whether you drive a beat up 1962 Chevy or a 2024 Ferrari the Wheel Tax is the same. The tax hits poorer people harder. The Wheel and Street Light taxes are even more regressive than the property tax.

The Wheel Tax and Street Light tax should be repealed at the same time the referendum is held.