Majority of voters approve Lincoln Township budget authority question
WAUSA – The May 14 primary election saw a majority of registered Lincoln Township voters approve a budget authority question.
According to unofficial results from the Knox County Clerk's Office, 144 voters were in favor of the ballot measure, while 81 were against it.
Each year, board members must go through a tax asking and levy request to fund the operations of the township, which includes the community of Wausa.
Without that process each year, the township would not have funds to maintain and plow snow off its roads, fund the Lied Lincoln Township Library in Wausa and provide other various services.
Voter approval of the 2024 ballot measure allows the board to go through the tax asking and levy request for the next five years without having to hold a special budget hearing each year.
The tax levy on the ballot said “not to exceed 13 cents per $100.00 of taxable valuation” whereas the board's 2023-24 budget request was $102,000, which is 8.25 percent. Board members set it at 14 percent in order to give the township flexibility if taxable valuations were to ever go down sharply.
The board's tax asking has been between $100,000 and $102,000 the last four budget years and its members do not expect that asking amount to go up much if any over the next five years.
