Happy Holidays from Horicon

Sitting here typing on a snowy Saturday morning, patiently waiting to go out and shovel multiple times, has given me some time to reach out to you all and provide some updates.
Budget
Our 2026 Budget is another slight deficit budget, like a majority of the past few decades in Horicon. Our city’s portion of the overall mill rate will be rising from 7.88 to 7.94. So, what does this mean for our homeowners and businesses? On my home, assessed at $260,000, my City of Horicon portion will rise about $16. The overall mill rate here in town, which includes the City, the Horicon School District, the County, and Moraine Park will rise from 17.61 to 17.93. On my home, I anticipate around $86 more on my tax bill. One thing of note, the State has lowered the lottery credit and the school credit on us, and I have no idea why. Once I find out, I will share with our residents.
We will not be doing any borrowing events in 2026, and we presented a budget of “needs” with little to no “wants.” Our department heads were very understanding when I put a memo out saying that this year, and they were more than helpful. When I say “needs,” I mean we need a new a/c unit at the Public Safety Building (the 32-year-old unit finally broke for good), we have trucks at the DPW where you can see the ground going by you at your feet because they’ve rusted through, and replacing worn out firefighting suits and boots.
Organization/Collaboration

I’m not sure how many residents have been downtown recently, but our City Hall staff has rearranged the City Hall offices in order to make the interactions with our residents more customer-service friendly, as well as more collaborative between our employees downtown. I can say confidently that it has been an unmitigated success. I truly enjoy hearing from folks who enjoy coming downtown and conversing with the Clerk, the Director of Finance/Treasurer, Teresa, and Michelle. “Customer Service” was our motto in 2025, and will continue to be a priority going forward.
Regarding collaboration, every Monday, for months now, the Clerk, Police Chief, Director of PW/U, Treasurer, and now Fire Chief, have a Teams meeting to go over things that have happened and what will be happening in the next week. While I am in touch with those department heads every day for a variety of reasons, this Monday meeting allows us to all hear, at once, what is going on. We are also in constant contact with our city engineer and our building inspector more than ever, allowing us to keep plans and ideas moving in real time instead of constantly stalling or hitting choke points that have stopped progress in the past. It’s very exciting.
Future Growth
Horicon is poised for consistent, steady, future growth at a speed we can sustain and keep rolling. The subdivision on the old school land off of Finch Street is beginning construction. The Plan Commission and Common Council has named the road “Curry Lane” after Bud Curry and all of the great things the Curry family has done in town for over 70 years. It is a very fitting tribute to a great businessman and community leader.
Later in spring, we will be excited to announce a well-established business moving into the old Bethesda warehouses on Clinton and W. Lake. Not only that, we have a few other irons in the fire that I’m working with the Community Development leaders in town on. I don’t want to jinx those opportunities before they happen, but I really will work as hard as I can to make sure Horicon has businesses coming to town, has nice places to live, and we have the critical infrastructure to keep our community safe, secure, and moving forward.
Speaking of critical infrastructure, the bids on our new Wastewater Treatment Facility came in better than we could have hoped. We also had five general contractors bid on the project, which is almost unheard of in a city our size. Usually, it’s only two or three, but contractors want to work with our city thanks to the positive aura of our residents and the high quality of our DPW and Utilities staff. That says a lot about our employees. Obviously, with the new plant going in, rates will have to go up to pay for the facility. We don’t have the figures we all need for final calculations, but I can say we haven’t raised our sewer rates since 2017. While that seems great on the surface, it makes it worse for a project of this magnitude. Right now, we are significantly cheaper than our neighbors for sewer rates, and I anticipate spreading the rate increase out over four to five years, and the final rates will be similar to our neighboring communities. Until we know the final numbers, I don’t want to just “guess.”
Near Term
I have submitted my declaration of candidacy this week to remain as your mayor. Nothing makes me prouder than representing you and our City employees, especially since I am a Marshman myself.
My wife and I are rooted in Horicon and committed to its future. I will continue to focus on responsible leadership that delivers results for our community.
I encourage Horicon residents to reach out to me whenever you have questions, but even more so with complaints, concerns, or gripes. I am an “I will try” person, not an immediate “no” person. The easiest way to reach me immediately is mayor@horiconwi.gov, and I wish you all a wonderful holiday season.