Letter to the Editor

Dear editor,

Why am I running for Wausau City Council?

My name is Vylius “V” Leskys. I am a retired Army Green Beret Colonel, an attorney working pro bono for disabled veterans, a Commissioner on the Wausau Police and Fire Commission, and most important, a family man who loves Wausau. I have lived all over America and the world while serving our great nation for 32 years, and our family is truly blessed to have settled down in this incredible community.

The reason I am running for City Council (District 4) is very basic. Our property taxes are outrageously high (twice the national average), and the taxes will continue to rise in perpetuity unless we fix our city’s budget.

Much of this can be attributed to poor decisions in our city’s spending: flawed logic in Tax Incremental Financing, purchases of properties without specific end-state goals in mind (e.g. MBX in September 2025), or the resale of city-owned properties at a substantial taxpayer loss (e.g. the embarrassment of the approved sale to a 17-year-old in May 2025).

Our rising debt impacts the price we all pay, as property taxes are virtually the sole source of city revenue to address a deficit. In this past year, the city allocated more money from the budget to pay down our debt service than what we pay for our fire department. In 2026, debt service payment is anticipated to surpass the police budget. Are we satisfied knowing that roughly 25 percent of our budget this year is going toward debt payments? These are not the financial lessons we try to teach our children.

Our city’s debt level and spending patterns are unsustainable. The budget needs to be fixed quickly, but unless we have council members myopically focused on fixing the root cause of our tax problem, it will continue to fester, and we will all continue to pay the price with higher and higher property taxes. I want to make life more economically viable for everybody in Wausau, and the best way the city can do this is to aggressively tackle our budget and taxes.

I have managed large mission-focused staffs and multi-million dollar budgets over the course of my military service. I will work to fix our budget, lower our taxes, and make this an affordable community for all.

Vylius “V” Leskys of Wausau