Gov. Scott Walker touts property tax cut on statewide tour

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — Gov. Scott Walker says he's working to further reduce property taxes and will unveil details of a major proposal in his budget.

Tim Florez works as a crane operator at Caterpillar. He's lived in his Milwaukee home for the last ten years with his wife and three kids. He says a reduced property tax bill would enable him to fix up the house.

"More money you can do to help do stuff to your house, for instance, I need a new roof or other work done in the basement or whatever.  It opens up other doors," said Florez.

Gov. Walker is making that one of his goals in the next budget. On Wednesday, December 17th, he criss-crossed the state on a "property tax relief tour" to explain how his reforms are helping to lower property taxes in neighborhoods across the state.

Typical homeowners in Wisconsin will have saved $800 on their property tax bills over his first four years in office.

"My goal going forward is not just to see this be a good spot compared to where w were at when we started, but to go the opposite of this, to continue to drive property taxes down," said Gov. Walker.

Gov. Walker's goal is to reduce property taxes drastically by the end of his second term. Walker says in 2018, he wants overall property taxes to be lower than they were when he was elected in 2010.

Gov. Walker says high property taxes continue to be one of his main concerns because of their impact on homeowners, small businesses and the Dairy State's farms. Last year, the governor signed into law $400 million for property tax relief -- lowering the levy for the state's technical colleges like MATC.

"This is what's driving the property tax relief -- the technical school," said Walker. "Our focus will be, we'll maintain the resources we put in the technical college and -- remember we put $100 million more in."

For Milwaukee homeowners like Florez, the downward trend has things looking up.

"For it to be lower that would be a great thing," said Florez.

Gov. Walker says he'll unveil his specific proposal for decreasing property taxes in his budget address in January.