Price County Borrowed Its Annual Loan in October, Two Months

Last updated: November 2026

Price County took its annual operating loan in October. It normally waits until December.

The borrowing came two months early, and the county administrator said the point was to get cash “back up to where it was last year at this time.” October still closed at $8.2 million against $8.6 million in October 2025.

Nobody on the Executive Committee called that a crisis when the numbers came up on Nov. 5 in Room 101 of the Phillips courthouse. But an early loan is the tell. You don’t pull December money into October because everything is fine and you’re bored.

The same report contained a smaller, stranger detail. A bar chart at the bottom of the cash page didn’t refresh. It showed the county holding somewhere around $5 million. Staff caught it that morning, before the meeting, and told the committee the chart “didn’t update” and didn’t line up with last month.

Quick Answer: Price County took its annual operating loan in October 2026 instead of December and ended the month with $8.2 million in cash, down from $8.6 million a year earlier. The treasurer’s office will collect taxes for seven municipalities this winter, swapping Georgetown out and Eisenstein in, which adds roughly 785 tax bills to a two-person office. The 2027 budget goes to a public hearing Nov. 10.

Why did Price County borrow in October?

The county borrows every year against property tax collections that don’t land until December and January. This year the loan came early because the cash balance was tracking below the prior year and the administrator wanted it level.

He also told the committee more loans are coming for next year’s budget, and that tax collections start next month, which is when revenue begins flowing again.

What the sales tax numbers show

August receipts came in soft. The administrator reported roughly $133,000 collected in August against roughly $150,000 in August 2025.

Why one soft month doesn’t move the year

The administrator’s read on the year was that the county is running close to flat, up slightly on some measures and down on others depending on which comparison you use. One soft month doesn’t reset the trend line, and he told the committee the county is monitoring collections month to month rather than projecting a swing.

What shape is the health insurance fund in?

The county’s self-insured health fund started 2026 roughly $281,000 in the red, per the administrator’s report. It sits about $219,000 in the red now, which he framed as break-even rather than recovery.

How stop-loss coverage limits the damage

He gave the committee the mechanism that keeps the county self-insured while other Wisconsin counties absorb double-digit renewals. Price County carries individual stop-loss coverage that reimburses claims above $120,000 per employee. He signed off on one the day before the meeting that returned roughly $70,000 to the fund.

The county did raise employee and county contributions for next year. It did not have to go up 17% or 24%, which is what he said fully insured counties in the market are facing. That decision costs the county a chance to rebuild its fund balance.

What does the treasurer’s report say about tax collection?

Price County will collect for seven municipalities again this winter, but the roster changed. Georgetown starts handling its own collections. Eisenstein comes in.

Net effect, by the treasurer’s count: roughly 785 additional tax bills landing on the office in December and January.

The treasurer told the committee she and her deputy can absorb the added volume. She also named the threshold out loud. If another municipality asks to join, the county should look at a limited part-time hire for the December through January window. Municipalities pay per parcel for the service, so the work isn’t unpaid. It’s just unstaffed.

Did the in-rem land auction sell?

Mostly. The auction wrapped the Tuesday before the meeting. Three lots came back unsold from the first round.

All three went back up the next day. All three now carry bids.

Second-round rules explain the difference. In round two, the minimum bid equals everything owed on the parcel: back taxes, interest, penalties, and every fee attached to it. Round one starts lower. Round two is the county getting whole or keeping the land.

Bidding closes the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. If those three hold, every parcel returns to the tax roll by year end and the county avoids a third round.

Which parcels moved

The lots tied to Vaughan Industrial Properties drew the back-and-forth bidding. Each bid on a parcel pushes that auction’s end time out another 10 minutes, which is how one set of lots becomes the last thing standing on the block.

A committee member said he hopes something good comes of that site. Nobody argued with him.

Where does the 2027 budget actually stand?

Further along than the calendar suggests, and not finished.

The full board already approved a budget draft to send to public hearing, so the Nov. 5 agenda item was a last call for changes rather than a debate. The public hearing and the levy resolution fall on Nov. 10. The administrator put the state’s submission deadline in mid-November.

The Nov. 10 county board agenda carries both the budget hearing and the opioid settlement vote.

Why departments can’t spend yet

A committee member asked when departments can start writing checks against the new budget. The answer was blunt. The loans are already in hand, so purchases could technically be lined up now. The administrator tells departments to wait anyway.

“As of Tuesday, we say you can start working on some of these projects,” he said. “Now we won’t have the cash necessarily until December.”

The committee member’s real concern was bids with 60- or 90-day expiration windows. It also matters because the county no longer has a stockpile of idle cash to float projects while grant reimbursements catch up. The administrator said cash flow is back to roughly its pre-2019 shape.

What did the financial report show for Health and Human Services?

Two numbers moving in opposite directions.

Health and Human Services has collected 100% of the revenue it projected for the year. It has spent 110% of what it budgeted.

The gap is high-cost out-of-home placements for children and youth, which reached roughly $685,000 through September. That’s about $200,000 ahead of last year at the same point and already above the full-year budget line.

The usual pattern runs the other way. When placements spike in children and youth, they fall in AODA or mental health, because a case gets coded to one line or the other. This year both are running hot. The administrator told the committee he can’t say whether that continues.

Where is the law enforcement radio project?

TUSA consultants were on site the week before the meeting, doing field work and interviewing the system’s users, including fire departments and the school district. A survey also went out asking those users what the county missed.

One answer arrived unsolicited. Taylor County called with an offer. It finished its own tower build recently and has a site near Camp Forest Springs that would cover southern Price County.

What a tower costs

Commercial tower rentals run $2,500 to $3,500 a month. Price County currently pays $1,000 a year for its existing arrangements. That’s the size of the gap the consultant report has to close.

Leasing from a neighboring county looks different from commercial rent. Taylor County owns its tower, so the ask would likely be help with maintenance. The committee also floated the hospital’s new tower on the east side of the county, and any county-owned sites in the north, as possible partners.

The consultant report is due in about 90 days, which lands at Christmas. The administrator said he won’t call a special meeting over the holidays for it, so expect this in January or February unless TUSA comes back with something urgent.

What is happening with Bug Tussel?

Price County is what the administrator calls “Bug Tussel 2,” and the separation is proceeding without a schedule. He watched a Bug Tussel presentation to another county that already lists Price County as departing.

That’s the useful part. The company has stopped describing Price County as a live build. What’s left is the transition itself, which means contracts, and contracts don’t move overnight. He said so directly, and he noted that people want it to happen faster than the paperwork allows.

What else came out of the Nov. 5 meeting?

The courthouse Christmas trees

The south tree on the courthouse lawn comes down. Buildings and grounds will transplant something of real size in its place, not a 12-inch sapling, and keep it trimmed. The north tree gets pruned and then removed, likely with Novak Tree Service doing the work because the county’s own crew is stretched thin.

Staff checked whether either tree was planted as a memorial or dedication and found nothing on record. That absence is what cleared the removal.

Register of Deeds volume

October was quiet. The register reported 296 documents recorded, 42 vital records applications taken, and 132 certificates issued, with roughly $6.8 million in straight-sale property conveyed. The office runs with one person at the counter plus help from the real property lister on phones and walk-ins.

Turnout in the Nov. 3 election

The clerk reported 74% turnout countywide. Compare that to 77% in the November 2024 presidential election and 61% in November 2022. A midterm landing three points off a presidential year is unusual, and the clerk said so herself.

She also fielded a question about a Town of Wooster voting machine that wouldn’t take ballots through the front door on election night. The cleaning sheet that ships with each machine was missing. A clerk borrowed one from another town, ran it through, and the scanner read ballots again. The county plans to call its vendor to confirm every machine has its cleaning kit.

Vouchers and timekeeping

The committee approved the monthly vouchers, with one question about the TimeClock Plus line. It’s the web-based timekeeping product the county has run for about two years, and longer at the sheriff’s office, where it also handles shift scheduling and trades.

Supervisor Michelle Drobnik chaired the meeting. Brian Ernst and Larry Palecek were excused. Paula Houdek and Jordan Spacek attended, and Drobnik reminded anyone listening at adjournment that she was filling in for Ernst. The next meeting is Dec. 10, if it’s needed.

FAQ

Is Price County short on cash?

No. The county held $8.2 million in October, down from $8.6 million a year earlier, and it took its annual loan two months early to get there. Tax collections begin in December, which is when the balance rebuilds.

Will Price County collect my property taxes this winter?

If you live in one of the seven municipalities the county serves, yes. Georgetown now collects its own. Eisenstein moves to county collection, adding about 785 bills to the treasurer’s office.

What happens to in-rem parcels that don’t sell at auction?

They go to a second round where the minimum bid equals everything owed on the parcel, including back taxes, interest and fees. If the three current lots close, no third round is needed and the parcels return to the tax roll.

When does the 2027 Price County budget take effect?

Jan. 1, 2027. The public hearing and levy resolution are on the Nov. 10 board agenda, and the administrator put the state filing deadline in mid-November.

Who sits on the Price County Executive Committee?

Michelle Drobnik, Brian Ernst, Paula Houdek, Larry Palecek and Jordan Spacek. Ernst is board chair and normally chairs the committee. Drobnik ran the Nov. 5 meeting in his absence.

Sources

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