You can't talk about home ownership without talking about property taxes. Property taxes are based on assessments of residential and commercial property conducted at regular intervals by the state and local governments. Under Wisconsin law, assessments must be conducted every four years. A property's assessed valuation must be between 90 percent and 110 percent of its current market value.
Tax rates vary greatly within the four-county metropolitan area.
Local governments have worked hard to maintain or decrease their property tax rates despite cutbacks in federal funding. They have carefully scrutinized their budgets to reduce waste and unneeded services. The city of Milwaukee, for instance, has lowered its portion of the tax rate in each of the last nine years. In addition, the state has implemented a credit system that reduces property tax bills by using revenues generated from the state's income tax and lottery.