After reviewing recent mailings from the Cook County assessor, we think it is important to express our thoughts.
After 10 years of around $3,000 per year of real estate taxes on our cabin at Wildwood Acres in Tofte, we were very surprised to receive the 2020 proposed taxes of $4,200 – a 41 percent increase over 2019.
Unfortunately, we missed the March Board of Review meeting, but we did attend the December county commissioners’ meeting. At that meeting, we learned that certain proposals could result in a doubling or tripling of our real estate taxes. Budget concerns in Cook County are valid and understandable, but attempting a fix in this fashion is literally “biting the hand that feeds you” and would be very unwise.
Please consider this short history of our situation, which we think is quite typical of hundreds of other cabin owners. Our cabin was built over parts of 2007-2009 at a cost of roughly $180,000 for materials, land, and many local contractors. In addition, our family literally worked 2,800 hours to physically assemble and finish the structure from a milled log kit — lots of blood, sweat, and tears. Over the ensuing years while attempting to defray carrying costs, we decided to share it with short-term vacationers. We have expenditures for local insurance, local utilities, local folks for cleaning and maintenance, snowplowing, private road maintenance, association dues and fees, taxes, and miscellaneous supplies, to name a few. Our guests also spend a lot of money locally during their visits.
After all is said and done, we end up with a modest $7,000-$8,000 net in a good year; and this, too, is taxed, of course. This modest net is certainly not enriching us! And that’s okay. We believe that there are valuable benefits to the community by allowing others to enjoy our cabin. We get many compliments from guests who return often to spend time and money in Cook County.
Our lifetime history and interest in the area result in annual donations to the Birch Grove School and local trail system; plus an average of three charitable group-stay donations per year to church groups, veteran missions, educational fundraisers, etc. A home equity line of credit on this cabin allowed us to build two additional affordable homes in Wildwood Acres (one at a time) —a badly needed commodity in the area.
We are retirees on a fixed income, and we believe we are quite typical of many vacation rental owners. If our real estate taxes end up escalating much higher, we would not be able to continue as above. We would urge whoever has the authority to make changes in tax classifications — be it local or state officials in combination — to consider very carefully the long-term consequences.
We believe that lumping all of the vacation rental owners into a commercial classification bracket and reassessing them with drastically higher taxes is a grossly unfair approach and may end up being very counter-productive.
Hopefully, appropriate officials will consider other, smarter, and fairer options. Maybe a slight increase in the general Cook County sales tax? Maybe a “luxury home” real estate tax classification for the numerous “million dollar” homes along the lake.
Perhaps, something progressive that wouldn’t unduly burden most of us?
Mining, timber, and commercial fishing reigned king back in the day, but today’s economy in Cook County is driven mostly by tourism. Many thousands of visitors flock to Cook County each year. Some need lodging that simply isn’t adequately supplied by existing campgrounds, resorts, lodges, and motels. Especially, lodging for large groups.
Vacation rentals provide a valuable service to the county. Please don’t tax us out of the picture.
Matthew and Darlene
Bratager
Cumberland, Wis.
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