Look at the trajectory over the years of Wisconsin school levies — that is, the total of the property-tax burden that school districts load onto the backs of homeowners, rent-payers, bakery proprietors, so on — and the geometry leaps out.

After years of merciless ascent, tax increases moderated in 2011, the year of the Act 10 labor reforms.

In the 12 years leading up to Act 10, school levies statewide rose 72%, compared to 31% in the dozen years after that up to and including 2024. After you adjust for inflation, in the 12 years before Act 10, the levies rose 2.15% a year, average, in real-dollar terms. In the past 12 years, they’ve averaged a quarter-point below inflation.

A reversal by the State Historic Preservation Review Board on the significance of the 35-year-old “postmodern” 100 East building in downtown Milwaukee could mean tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks if the building is fully renovated.

While the board’s focus has ostensibly been on the debatable architectural importance of 100 East, it’s unlikely the mostly unoccupied building would be the target of a major remodeling without the possibility of generous state and federal tax incentives only available if the building is deemed historic.

The reliance of developers around the country on those tax breaks — and their persistence in seeking them — raises anew the question of whether historic designations are as much about money as preserving the past.

While cities like Milwaukee have lost population in recent decades, Madison and Dane County as a whole have continued to grow at a fast pace. Other areas, like the Fox Cities and counties adjacent to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area have continued to see growth.

Wyatt Eichholz — Policy and Legislative Associate with the Badger Institute — joined Spectrum News to discuss changing demographics around the state. 

The creation of new real estate lots in Wisconsin is down 74% from its high 20 years ago with developers platting only 5,324 lots so far this year, data obtained by the Badger Institute from the Department of Administration’s plat review office show.

Before developers can build new homes or other structures on undeveloped land, they are required to submit a subdivision plat to local and state governments for review and approval. A plat is a detailed plan of a proposed development showing the new legal boundaries of subdivided lots.

The number of lots platted per year therefore serves as a leading indicator of the building of new housing stock.

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