City of Fort Atkinson officials Monday hosted a meeting with state, county and other local level officials to discuss efforts through which they might collaborate to provide services.
An additional focus of the meeting was to “urge the Wisconsin Legislature to fix the broken system of funding critical local services,” information about the meeting released Tuesday by Fort Atkinson officials stated.
The meeting was held at the Dwight Foster Public Library and was aimed at “starting conversations with elected officials in the Wisconsin Legislature,” the news release noted.
Deb Reinbold, executive director of Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium (JCEDC) and president of Thrive ED, offered a presentation during which she discussed what she termed “the shift in economic development strategy and recent local success stories,” the release stated.
Reinbold highlighted the organization’s public/private partnership and explained the overall benefits to Jefferson County, according to the release.
“We are a connector and an ambassador. I’m not going out and building new houses, but I am connecting with developers and going out and meeting with workforce development boards,” Reinbold was quoted as saying in the release.
Additionally, the release noted that the organization’s “strategic plan is working,” citing as an example the city of Fort Atkinson’s Capital Catalyst Revolving Loan Fund, along with the Jefferson County Revolving Loan Fund and additional tools in use to entice businesses to locate in Jefferson County, including, the release stated, partnerships with the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation, private business and others.
“We are trying to deploy as many incentives as we can to make development happen here in Jefferson County. We need a workforce for businesses to grow. From 2010 to 2020 we only added 1,006 residents. We need to try to engage people to come here,” Reinbold stated within the release.
According to Reinbold, the release stated, the unemployment rate in Jefferson County in December was 2%, and, the release noted, she said the consortium is working with the area’s under-represented populations to help fill some of the jobs in the county that are open.
The county held the first Latino Academy in Watertown to help connect people with jobs and childcare, among other programs, the release continued, adding: “The consortium also is working to keep students in the county after high school to help fill jobs in the area instead of moving away.”
As indicted in the release, Reinbold discussed a video series which she is proposing to the Jefferson County Economic Development and Thrive ED boards geared towards addressing workforce-related topics for high school students.
JCEDC also is partnering with area municipalities to address the lack of housing in Jefferson County, the release stated.
“Affordable housing is an issue, but it’s really housing of all types,” Reinbold said.
Reinbold explained that the vacancy rate in Jefferson County is 2%. The consortium is working with consultants to help municipalities solve some of their housing issues, she was noted as saying in the release.
According to Reinbold, the release noted, there are developers who are interested in building in the county in the next several years, but, she said, an issue facing developers is connected to the amount of rent they can charge in Jefferson County, which, she said, is less than that charged in Dane, Waukesha or Milwaukee counties. The consortium has been meeting with the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation and a hired consultant to learn how to bridge the gap for developers allowing them to invest in Jefferson County.
A revolving loan fund is among ideas that are being discussed, Reinbold said.
“They all see that Jefferson County is that gateway between Madison and Milwaukee,” she added.
According to the release, officials in attendance also heard comments made by leaders in Watertown, Whitewater, Fort Atkinson and Lake Mills, focusing on the struggle to provide critical services under the current shared revenue funding formula and levy limits.
Within the release, Watertown Mayor Emily McFarland said: “I feel like I’ve been talking about shared revenue and expenditure restraint and local finance reform for as long as I’ve been in local government,” adding that she has worked at multiple levels of government for 10 years.
As noted in the release, “the expenditure restraint program provides targeted, general aid to towns, villages, and cities. The aid is targeted in that municipalities must qualify for a payment by meeting certain eligibility criteria.”
The release stated that in 2017, McFarland said she considered “turning off every other street light” to stay within the expenditure restraint program confines while giving the city’s staff a “small cost of living increase.”
The release stated: “Currently, local governments are primarily funded through property tax revenue and intergovernmental revenue — state shared revenue. Property tax revenue is limited by ‘levy limits’ imposed by state law. The law limits the local government’s ability to increase property tax revenue to the percentage of net new construction from the prior year. The statutes allow for local governments to borrow funds outside of the levy limit and to seek voter approval for an increase in property taxes through the referendum process.”
The release referenced a $1.1 million referendum question which was brought before Whitewater’s voters last November to support expenses associated with fire and EMS services, and a Fire and EMS referendum brought before Fort Atkinson’s voters in 2022.
As quoted in the release, Whitewater City Manager John Weidl said: “These challenges are not unique. Levy limits were designed to force communities into referendums and make it so the threshold is really high. Communities are hitting that threshold and are successful with referendums, but for those that aren’t, they are experiencing the real repercussions of not having the revenues.”
Fort Atkinson City Manager Rebecca Houseman LeMire said: “We saw an increase in our fire calls that required more than a volunteer response. The impact of the referendum was seen on all of our taxpayers.”
In Fort Atkinson, as indicated in the release, LeMire said that the referendum does not have an escalator and will not increase over time, even though the costs of running a fire and EMS service will continue to go up.
She added: “We will blow by expenditure restraint because of the referendum. For our 2024 budget, we will lose over $200,000 from the state because we increased our general fund expenditures past what was permitted for the expenditure restraint program.”
According to the release, Drake Daily, Lake Mills city manager, noted that Lake Mills is in an “unusual spot when it comes to net new construction, which allows a municipality to increase its budget by that percentage, because they had 2.24% net new construction.”
He added: “That allows us to increase our levy by about $65,000. We’re about two police officers behind where we should be and that would cost us about $200,000.”
As stated in the release, Lake Mills also is facing fire and EMS struggles. The Lake Mills City Council decided against placing a referendum question on the ballot in 2023, but is looking at contracted service providers that might cost between $30 and $60 more per capita compared to the $17 per capita the city currently pays for EMS.
“We are actively pursuing economic development. We’ve had success and we have grown and we are still not able to meet the needs of our residents and businesses because of the restrictions from state mandates,” Daily was quoted as saying in the release.
He called for the review of local government funding, the release stated, and added: “Core services are suffering because of it and we need to find a solution. We don’t have the resources to continue doing everything we’ve always done and continue to meet the needs of the future.”
According to the release, Rep. Scott Johnson, (R-Jefferson), attended the meeting and said he understood the needs of local government.
“Half of the state surplus is one-time money. We’re working on it. I have one vote and it’s a learning curve,” he said.
State Reps. William Penterman (R-Columbus) and Ellen Schutt (R- Clinton), were also in attendance, the release noted. Both expressed a willingness to continue an open dialog on the topic and an interest in hearing from their constituents, the release continued.
According to the release, Government Affairs Director for the League of Wisconsin Municipalities Toni Herkert encouraged those in attendance to continue the discussion and to get to know their legislators.
“If we get this across the finish line, we need to thank the legislators who took the vote. This is a huge lift,” she said in the release.
Approximately 30 state, county and local government officials gather to discuss opportunities for collaboration to fund local services. The officials met Monday at the Dwight Foster Pubic Library in Fort Atkinson.
Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium Executive Director Deb Reinbold addresses an audience gathered Monday at the Dwight Foster Public Library.
State Rep. Scott Johnson addresses state, county and local officials in attendance Monday at the Dwight Foster Public Library as they discuss funding for local services and seek to urge the State Legislature to revisit the state’s funding formulas.
Contributed photos.
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