MADISON, Wis. -- Few things are likely to immediately gall voters as much as the phrase "property tax."

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With this in mind, both major-party candidates in Wisconsin's gubernatorial race -- Democrat Jim Doyle and Republican Mark Green -- said that they will run on platforms emphasizing a "property tax freeze."

But, voters who talked to WISC-TV said that they were skeptical of promises and were looking closer at what they are getting in state services for the thousands of dollars that they pay each year.

A WISC-TV analysis found that some homeowners living in the same neighborhood and belonging to the same school district can pay property taxes at vastly different tax rates. Those rates aren't tied directly to the amount of service that they get, either.

On the south side of the Madison metro area, three neighbors live in three different municipalities. One homeowner is in the City of Madison, another in the Town of Madison and a third in the City of Fitchburg.

Who pays the most? Who gets the most for their money?

"I've been curious, but I've never looked into it," said City of Madison resident Gary Marquardt.

Marquardt guessed that his taxes were highest. He said that he believes the level of service is about the same compared to his neighbors.

"I don't see any difference," said Marquardt. "The road down there doesn't have curb and gutter like we do, but shy of that, everything else seems to be about the same."

Fitchburg residents Harvey Mathes and Sally Hoeft moved into their home in 1979 and picked it because of the property-tax rate.

"We wanted to be as close to downtown without being in the city as possible because of taxes," said Mathes.

But, as the years have passed, he said that he believes they've almost caught up to their larger city counterpart. In terms of services, he said that he thinks he still has an edge on both his City of Madison and Town of Madison neighbors.

"Most times, we feel better off," said Mathes. "It seems like when you talk to people there, it's the largeness of all the departments that you have to deal with, it's hard to get any response to any issue you may have."

"Plowing the street, our street gets plowed," said Fitchburg resident Hoeft. "They [Madison city workers] don't plow as soon."

WISC-TV reviewed tax records of the three neighbors. In sheer dollar amounts, the Marquardts in the City of Madison pay the most at $3,919. The Fitchburg residents are next at $3,451, and the Town of Madison homeowner pays $3,340. But, factor in home value, and it's clear the Town of Madison homeowner is paying the highest rate.

In fact, if all three houses were assessed at the same price -- for instance $180,000 -- the Town of Madison owner would pay the most. They would pay nearly $500 more than their city counterpart and nearly $1,000 more than the hypothetical Fitchburg resident, WISC-TV reported.

Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance, said that's unusual. His studies show most often that towns have lower taxes. He said that because the Town of Madison is in an urban area, however, it has higher police costs, for instance. The Town of Madison taxes seem unusually high but that's because its neighbors, in this case Madison and Fitchburg, have relatively high property values.

Berry said that there's a positive to inequity and variety.

"There's something to be said for that," said Berry. "If that's the nature of the disparity, then people can pick and choose where they want to live based on whether they need good schools or not or whether they want garbage picked up twice a week or whatever."

Last year, statewide property taxes went up 2.3 percent. It's the lowest increase in recent history. That increase might not be good enough to satisfy voters because both Republicans in charge of the state Legislature and the governor called their competing tax plans a "property-tax freeze."

"I think that the governor and the Legislature made a semantic mistake," said Berry. "By choosing the word 'freeze' because than people expected to be able to look at the two property tax bills and see absolutely no change. And, of course, some had increases and some decreases."

The "freeze" talk hasn't played well on the street corner, either, WISC-TV reported.

"They say we're going to cut property taxes. OK, fine. But you increase my car tax, my car registration, you increase state parks," said Fitchburg resident Sally Hoeft. "You're not going to get everything for free. It's going to go up one way or another."

"Do I wish they were lower? Of course," Marquardt said. "But, I believe the level of service we get, school, police service are all top notch. And I think we pay a fair price for that. "I'm much more concerned with how my taxes get spent than how much my taxes are," said Marquardt.

According to the non-partisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, property taxes have increased an average of 4.5 percent each year during Doyle's term. Last year was the lowest in recent history, with an increase of 2.3 percent.

Doyle accomplished the modest increase by greatly increasing the funding for schools by more than $900 million. He essentially bought down the property tax with money from the state's transportation fund. Doyle argued that he provided relief without harming education.

His rival, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, said that he supports the Republican Legislative's "freeze" plan. In the end, tax bills would increase at roughly the same rate, but the increase to schools would have been about half of Doyle's $900 million.

Schools would have received less, and money from the transportation fund wouldn't have been removed. Challenger Green also argued that Doyle's earlier vetoes of GOP freeze plans have cost taxpayers $600 million.

Note: We the People/Wisconsin is a joint civic journalism project. Look for more reports about taxes and government in this Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal and on Wisconsin Public Television's "Here and Now" and also on Wisconsin Public Radio.