The Grant County communities of Glen Haven and Boscobel are separated by 54 miles of highway.
They’re also separated by about $2,200 in property taxes for a house assessed at $150,000 in the Cassville School District portions of Glen Haven and a similarly assessed house in the Town of Boscobel, before various state tax credits are placed on each property’s tax bill.
The Platteville Journal’s annual comparison of property taxes in Grant, Lafayette and Iowa counties (see page 6A) shows that property tax rates per $1,000 assessed valuation dropped 5.84 percent in Iowa County, 4.36 percent in Lafayette County, and 2.8 percent in Grant County from 2013 (taxes due Jan. 31, 2014) and 2014 (taxes due this past Feb. 2).
Property tax mil rates — listed here as per $1,000 assessed valuation — are based on the tax levies in the property’s city, village or town, school district, Southwest Wisconsin Technical College district and state forestry tax divided by the total taxable property value in each. A property tax bill is determined by the total mil rate divided into the property’s assessed value.
Among Grant, Lafayette and Iowa counties, Grant County has six of the top 10 property tax mil rates, but the 10 lowest property tax mil rates in those three counties. Grant County has the lowest average mil rate, $20.31 per $1,000 assessed valuation, while Iowa County’s average is $21.17 per $1,000, and Lafayette County’s average is $22.08 per $1,000. The mil rate dropped 5.84 percent in Iowa County, 4.36 percent in Lafayette County, and 2.8 percent in Grant County from 2013 (taxes due Jan. 31, 2014) and 2014 (taxes due Feb. 2).
Property tax rates are less variable than in previous decades in part because of requirements that assessment ratios — the difference between assessed house values and fair-market house values — be between 90 and 110 percent. The lowest assessment ratio this year is in the Town of Potosi, 90.19 percent, and the highest assessment ratio this year is in the City of Mineral Point, 110.93 percent. In the 1990s, assessment ratios as low as 60 percent in some townships were not uncommon.
Property tax rates jumped the highest in the Town of Woodman — 23.08 percent in the Boscobel school district, 21.31 percent in the Riverdale school district. Property tax rates dropped the most in the Town of Wingville, 17.45 percent.
In Grant, Lafayette and Iowa counties, there are six communities in more than one county. In each case, the Grant County portion of the city or village has considerably lower property taxes.
Property owners in Cuba City pay $22.25 per $1,000 in property taxes on the Grant County side, but $24.72 per $1,000 on the Lafayette County side — a difference of $370.50 on a $150,000 house. Property owners in Hazel Green pay $16.97 per $1,000 in Grant County, but $19.98 per $1,000 in Lafayette County.
Property owners in Livingston pay $20.47 per $1,000 on the Grant County side, but $24.24 per $1,000 on the Iowa County side. Property owners in Montfort pay $20.77 per $1,000 on the Grant County side, but $22.55 per $1,000 on the Iowa County side. Property owners in Muscoda pay $25.19 per $1,000 on the Grant County side, but $28.04 per $1,000 on the Iowa County side.
Property owners in Blanchardville pay $25.17 per $1,000 on the Lafayette County side, but $24.47 per $1,000 on the Iowa County side.
The biggest single component of property taxes is school property taxes. According to the state Department of Public Instruction, equalized school property tax mil rates ranged from $8.38 per $1,000 in the Southwestern School District to $17.05 per $1,000 in the Cassville School District.
The Platteville Public Schools mil rate dropped from $11.35 per $1,000 to $10.73 per $1,000 equalized valuation, while the Belmont school mil rate dropped from $10.45 per $1,000 to $8.65 per $1,000 equalized valuation, the Iowa–Grant rate dropped from $12.59 per $1,000 to $11.19 per $1,000 equalized valuation, and the Potosi mil rate increased from $11.83 per $1,000 to $12.64 per $1,000 equalized valuation.
