PESHTIGO – The City of Peshtigo Common Council met for a special meeting on Monday, June 16. The council met with Ehlers Public Finance Advisors for their first financial management plan workshop regarding the capital, debt overview and operating budget assumptions.
Ehlers started with an overview of what a financial management plan is, describing it as “a multi-year fiscal plan for all funds by activity or fund” that “determines if capital and operating costs are sustainable over time under certain assumptions.”
They added that some of the benefits of having a financial management plan are that it “manages community expectations” and “communicates long-term plans to external parties.”
Delving into the plan, the first item addressed was the city’s existing debt profile. The lowest item was water revenue debt, listing the debt amount as “very little” and the expectation is to be debt free in this category in 2027.
The next debt type was the General Obligation (GO) debt, which is often used to fund long-term projects. State statute § 67.03(1) mandates that for GO debt the “total amount outstanding, at any time, [is] limited to 5% of total equalized valuation.” This means that a city cannot borrow more than 5% of the value of all property within it.
Since this debt is backed by the taxing power of a municipality, GO debt is exempt from municipal levy limits. Therefore, a city can raise property taxes to pay back this debt, if necessary. GO debt must be paid off within 20 years from when it is borrowed.
As far as property taxes being raised to cover GO debt, City of Peshtigo Mayor Katie Berman told the Peshtigo Times, “That is one of the options we’re considering as we evaluate how to fund future capital needs. That said, no decisions have been made at this point; this is still an early planning stage and we’re simply identifying needs and evaluating options. We have only done the simple borrowing in the past, but we are willing to explore all options to be able to keep projects properly funded.”
According to Ehlers, the City of Peshtigo has “very little” GO debt and that “[$230,000 is] falling off in 2025.” In 2026, the projected outstanding existing principal will be $398,482. The current plan is to be free of GO debt in 2031.
The next item discussed on the city’s existing debt profile is the sanitary sewer debt. Ehlers identified this as the city’s largest area of debt, with an outstanding balance of $2.75 million dollars. Ehlers projected that the city will not be debt free in this area until 2043.
As of Jan. 1, 2025, there was one outstanding loan for the water system that was issued in 2007. The current principal balance was $415,883 and total interest was $10,356 for a total amount due of $426,239.
As for the sewer system debt, there are four loans:
In summary, the City of Peshtigo has a sewer system debt of $3,244,965 that is currently set to be paid off in 2043.
After presenting on the current debt situation, Ehlers moved into working with the city on their draft capital improvement plan listing and funding sources. Currently, the plan has project purchases through 2035 for the city itself and purchases through 2030 for the police department, fire department and parks and recreation.
Below is an abbreviated list of items set for purchase in 2026.
Department of public works/street maintenance
Police department
Fire department
Parks and recreation
Mayor Berman told the Peshtigo Times that the draft is a work in progress and, “As we continue the process, we’ll start weighing funding options, including grants, borrowing and budget allocations for each item. This process will include what projects, if any, can be delayed or cut.”
“None of the items in the [capital improvement plan] have been approved yet; they’re working concepts meant to help us prepare and plan for the years ahead. We’ll be moving into the next phase of the [financial management plan] soon, where we’ll take a closer look at our day-to-day operating expenses. That will significantly influence which capital projects we can realistically fund and when,” she added.
Ehlers and the City of Peshtigo will hold their second financial management plan meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 8. They will discuss the capital improvement plan, general fund operating budget projections, levy limit impact analysis, overall tax levy, tax rate projections and alternative revenue sources.
The third workshop will be at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 6, and will include an analysis of the water and sewer utilities long range cash flow.
The final presentation will be given during the Sept. common council meeting.
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