MMSD property tax hike: What you can do about it and what realtors, districts want you to know | News

MADISON, Wis. — Property tax bills in Madison and Fitchburg are higher this year after voters approved two referendums for the Madison Metropolitan School District in 2024. The increase has caused some sticker shock — but is there anything homeowners can do now?

“So in terms of an increase compared to prior year, this year is the high year. But it was planned,” said Bob Soldner, MMSD’s assistant superintendent of financial services.

Soldner said voters were given a clear understanding of what the estimated taxes would be this year.

“I would say we did a good job at overestimating the increase of the tax with a yes vote, which is where you always want to be as a school district, right?” he said. “You want to tell people, ‘If you vote yes, this is what we think your taxes are going to go up.’ You want to estimate higher than what it actually ends up being. I will say the actual numbers are less than what we were projecting, which is still a tax increase, but less than what we had projected.”

Soldner said, like school districts statewide, MMSD’s hands are tied because over the past 15 years the state Legislature has backed away from sharing the cost of local public schools.

“The result of that is, for every last dollar in state aid to operate a local school, you have to increase your property taxes, and you can only do that if the voters vote yes — like the voters in Madison did,” he said. “So it’s a broken school finance system.”

Regardless of whether you voted yes or no on the two MMSD referendum questions, is there anything you can do?

“Unfortunately, I haven’t seen a lot of success with people going to the city and getting a change in their tax bill,” said Dan Tenney, head broker and co-owner of MHB Real Estate.

But you can try to lower the overall cost.

“I know when homes get reassessed, they have the opportunity to talk with the city assessor and perhaps get an adjustment to what the home’s been assessed at. But nothing’s going to change with the mill rate. The mill rate is set as the multiplier for what the tax bill is going to be based on,” Tenney said.

He added that it can muddy the waters of the market for some — especially since Dane County’s average tax bill is already double that of the average Wisconsin county.

“Prices are at all-time highs. Rates have come down a little bit, but they’re still nothing like what they were. And now we’ve got a little bit more on the tax bill as well,” Tenney said. “So especially for first-time homebuyers and those trying to get into their first home, it presents even a little bit more of a challenge.”

A challenge, but district officials say the money is going exactly where it was supposed to — and needed.

“We expect to break ground in March of 2026 on Sherman and Shabazz on the northeast side and Black Hawk Gompers school complexes on the northeast side,” Soldner said.