Voters in Wisconsin’s spring election turned down a Marinette County property tax request and elected Robert A. Kennedy Jr. as circuit court judge in Florence and Forest counties.

The property tax referendum in Marinette County sought a levy increase of $1.5 million to support public safety and other essential services. It was soundly defeated — 7,270 no to 2,749 yes.

Kennedy will succeed Judge Leon Stenz, who is retiring after serving since 2008. He defeated Alex Seifert in both Florence and Forest counties.

Kennedy is a past Florence County district attorney for one term and a past Florence-Forest circuit court judge for one term. Seifert is the elected district attorney for Forest County.

According to unofficial results, Kennedy received 661 votes in Florence County while Seifert drew 506 votes. In Forest County, Kennedy prevailed 1,521 to 1,138.

There were school board and county board elections Tuesday in Marinette and Florence counties, but no local seats were contested on the ballot. Niagara City Council incumbents were unopposed as well.

In Florence County, several supervisor districts had no candidates on the ballot but preliminary results showed support for write-ins.

In District 11 in the towns of Long Lake and Tipler, where Fran Modschiedler is the incumbent but was not on the ballot, Jaden Streu drew 24 write-in votes.

In District 5 in the towns of Fence and Fern, where incumbent county board member Dwaine Drewa was not on the ballot, Rich Wolosyn collected 13 write-ins. There were 24 other write-ins that were still undetermined.

In District 8 in the Town of Florence, currently listed as vacant, Jack Bomberg collected four write-ins. In District 1 in the Town of Aurora, where incumbent Sherry Johnson was not on the ballot, there was a write-in vote for Steven Nanninga.

If approved, the Marinette County levy would have resulted in an estimated property tax increase of $20 per $100,000 of equalized assessed property value, according to the Marinette County Board.

The 2026 levy is capped at $17.65 million, which is an increase of 1.494%. The referendum sought to raise the 2027 levy by 8.5%, delivering a total of $19.15 million. The levy increase of $1.5 million would also have been permitted going forward.

The referendum stated the levy was for “the purpose of maintaining existing levels of service for Public Safety including Law Enforcement, Jail, Courts, District Attorney’s Office, Family Court Commissioner; 911 Dispatch, Child Support, Emergency Management and Medical Examiner.”

According to preliminary results posted on the Marinette County website, the measure was defeated in the City of Niagara, 152 no to 100 yes. In the Town of Niagara, the tally was 141 no to 67 yes. The proposal was defeated in every voting district across the county.

Current tax limits set by Wisconsin law have put essential public safety services at risk, the Marinette County board stated in a Nov. 6 resolution calling for the referendum.

In the Wisconsin Supreme Court race won by Democratic-backed Chris Taylor, voters in Florence, Marinette and Forest counties supported Republican-backed Maria Lazar.

The Florence County total was 729 for Lazar to 464 for Taylor. In Marinette County it was Lazar, 5,571, and Taylor, 4,442. The Forest County total was 1,387 for Lazar and 1,183 for Taylor.

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Jim Anderson can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 85226, or janderson@ironmountaindailynews.com.