Budget includes $1.4M in nonprofit grants

sBy DAN BENSON

Ozaukee Press staff

The Ozaukee County Board last week approved a 2027 budget that differed only slightly from what was originally proposed by staff and approved by its top committee chairmen.

Supervisors unanimously approved a tax levy of $23.52 million, an increase of $335,224, or 1.45%, over 2026, and an operating levy increase of $550,000, or 2.57%, to $21.94 million.
The amount of levy needed to pay county debt fell $214,776, or 11.99%, to $1.58 million thanks to a decision earlier this year to prepay debt service.

Because of growing equalized property values, the county tax rate will fall 7 cents, or  5.79%, to $1.08 per $1,000 of equalized value.

That means the owner of a $500,000 house will pay about $540 in county property taxes, down about $35 from last year.

The assessed value, which will appear on this December’s tax bills, differs slightly from the equalized value. The county tax is in addition to school, municipal, technical college and special district taxes.

The county tax rate has steadily declined since 2014, when it was $2.21 per $1,000 of equalized value.

The only addition to County Administrator Jason Dzwinel’s proposed budget was the addition of an attorney in the Corporation Counsel/Child Support office at a cost of $153,000.

Supervisors also approved nearly $1.45 million in grants to local nonprofit groups, up slightly from $1.44 million in 2026.

Those grants included:

• $1 million to the Monarch Federated Library System.

• $157,610 to the Southeast Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission.

• $145,000 to Ozaukee County Economic Development Corp.

• $53,625 to Advocates of Ozaukee County.

• $45,501 to the Ozaukee County Historical Society.

• $30,000 to the Ozaukee County Tourism.

• $30,000 to the Southeast Wisconsin Railroad Consortium.

• $10,000 to the Ozaukee Youth Apprenticeship Program.

• $5,001 to the National Flag Day Foundation.

With $17.4 million in levy support, the Sheriff’s Office is the largest consumer of taxes in the county.

The 2027 sheriff’s budget shows an increase of $766,000, or 4%.

Sheriff’s revenues are budgeted to increase about $115,000, including an additional $100,000 in jail boarding revenue thanks to state and federal inmates housed at the county jail.

More than 80% of the Sheriff’s budget is for salaries and benefits, which are expected to increase $479,000, including a $267,000 increase in health insurance.

That includes a new deputy position partially paid for by a contract to serve as a school resources officer of Lumen Christi Catholic School in Mequon.

A part-time drug unit investigator is made full-time in the budget, funded by jail boarding revenue.

Enterprise funds contributing to county operations include those from the county golf courses and from Lasata Senior Living Campus.

Hawthorne Hills and Mee-Kwon golf courses are contributing $150,000 to parks  operations and Lasata is adding $100,000 to the county general fund in 2027.

Sales tax collections are on track to set another record this year, and are already almost $1 million ahead of last year’s collections.

With county savings accounts earning about 3% in annual interest, they are expected to generate about $250,000.

The Register of Deeds Office is projected to generate approximately $493,000 more in revenue than expenses, an increase of about $64,000 over this year.

Levy support for the second largest department — Human Services and Aging and Disability Resources Center — will increase $685,000 to about $6.4 million, up 12%, due to higher placement costs, salaries and benefits.

The Highway Department is being encouraged again to pursue additional state and municipal work to strengthen its reserve fund, the tradeoff being a “reduced capacity for county highway projects,” Dzwinel said.