Business View Magazine | September 2020

319 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2020 MIDDLETON, WI SCONS IN benefits to the community.” One of those community benefits is a comparatively low tax rate for Middleton residents. “Most communities have in the neighborhood of 75-80 percent residential tax base,” Davis notes. “Our residential is about 55 percent and our manufacturing and commercial is about 40-45 percent. It’s about $4 billion in value now; in 1998, it was $1 billion, so we have quadrupled the tax base in that time.” Davis says that there are several reasons why so many companies love setting up shop in Middleton. First of all, there’s the city’s proximity to Madison, as well as the University of Wisconsin, which is just five miles down the road. “Also, we have offered a very aggressive Tax Increment Finance product for a very long time and we have two major tax increment districts that are targeted to business assistance and improvements of the infrastructure within those districts.” Disney to Hollywood. We have Fiskars, which is well known for its scissors, but they have many other products, and they have their American headquarters in Middleton. We have Gilson Medical Instruments, which was the original manufacturer of pipettes for scientific research in the United States, and they are still number two in the world. Mead & Hunt Engineering is a leading aviation engineering company and they’re headquartered in Middleton. Natus Neurology has its North American headquarters here, specializing in neurological products. We also have Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD). They’re a major company and our largest employer with close to 1,700 employees. They do research and development for pharmaceutical companies around the world. Spectrum Brands is also a Fortune 500 Company that makes Rayovac batteries, for example. Then the University of Wisconsin Health is also headquartered in Middleton and they’re one of our largest employers, too. So, we have a great compilation of businesses with a variety of