Gambling with the tax-payers' money?

“You got to know when 

to hold 'em,
Know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away,
And know when to run.
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealing's done.”

- The Gambler by Kenny Rogers

If you haven't heard (and my guess is you probably have) there's a whole lot of municipal dollars that have been exchanging hands lately - or about to exchange - and if you're like me you may be just a mite curious as to where all this money is coming from.

Central States

You see the fine print?
That's what a bill for $2Mil looks like

For starters, the settlement with Central States. On Good Friday, Carmen and I affixed our signatures to a 10-year note for $770K (and some change) to officially exit the Central States Pension Fund, the pension for those members of our public works crew who belong to the Teamsters. The original bill for our fair share of the liability was plus $2 million dollars but through an accepted industry formula our attorney negotiated this amount down to $770K. The 10-year note amortized over 20 years comes to about what we were originally paying each month to Central States (approximately $4,500). In July 2017, when we ceased sending pension funds to the union, we began funding our public works crews' personal retirement fund (otherwise known as a 457 plan) at the same amount we had been sending to the Teamsters. In other words, we'll be double-dipping for some time to come - paying on this note, continuing to contribute to the guys' pensions. This money comes out of the general fund.

And just like that we committed ourselves to $770K

More new sidewalks coming soon

Then there's the new sidewalks. A few weeks ago the City Council approved $50K worth of new sidewalks this summer. This includes among other sections:

Stout Street: from Second Street to the Chetek Area Alano Club (next to City Hall)

• Moore Street: from the Police Station to Second Street
• Knapp Street: Corner of Knapp and Second Street by Time and Again
• Knapp Street: the section of walk in front of Jason Fostvedt's new building (the former Chetek Beauty Salon)
• Knapp Street: Corner of Knapp and Third Street by the former Cabin Fever
• Knapp Street: Corner of Third and Knapp at Synergy Co-op (formerly Lakeland Co-op) side of the street
• Knapp Street: from the old Car Quest building to the railroad tracks
• Main Street Park: the section in front of Main Street Park on Second Street

Last year when our sidewalk replacement campaign began in earnest the decision was made that no business would be assessed for the expense since its to everyone's benefit to have safe and aesthetically pleasing walkways in the Central Business District. So if no one is being assessed for the expense of tearing up and replacing the new walks where is the money coming from? Well, we have tapped into a source to fund this project – it's one of our capital improvement funds.

If there is one thing I've learned since being elected mayor is that there are funds always being set-aside for later purchases. When Dan goes to buy a new truck (i.e., a new-to-us truck) money has been set aside for that very thing already. Same goes with any new piece of equipment we may need or require. You can call it a “rainy day” fund if you like but we just can't call it that (according to the rules set by the State). The main thing to know is nobody was taxed for the sidewalks. We just took the money from this account to pay for these new sidewalks.

New owners of the Chetek Cafe building

And then there's the talk of the town – the two-way deal of Chetek Cafe purchasing Bob's Grill and the city purchasing the old cafe. Why would the city get involved in a deal like this? Simple: we're interested in Norbert's property (i.e., Chetek Cafe). Actually, its a win-win-win situation: Dwayne “Frog” Trowbridge has been wanting to get out of Bob's Grill for some time, Norbert & Patty have been wanting to expand and we see potential in their piece of real estate. What is the city going to do with a cafe? Well, we're not opening up a hot dog stand that's for sure. I prefer to look at it this way: we have a Police Department in an old post office and a library in an old wood shop. If....(and that is a BIG if) the Chetek Area Alano Club (who is housed in the old fire hall right next to the current city hall) we're willing to sell their property back to the city then we would end up with half of the block. If all that were to come together (and the stars were to align) we would retain the services of people who do community development to help us envision what we might be able to do with that half block. Perhaps a future multi-purpose governmental facility which would house both Police Department, City Hall and Library – or some other combination? If you've wondered aloud, 'What are they thinking?' well, that's what we're thinking.

Part of the deal is that this iconic sign will go to the museum

Norbert will refurbish and take this sign with him to his new digs

Are we shooting too high? Well you know what Emerson said, “Hitch your wagon to a star.” Worst case scenario and the Alano Club chooses to hold on to their building and our best laid plans run awry we still end up with a prime piece of real estate on Second Street that we can market to a future business. If you're a person like myself whose income doesn't really change from year to year, it seems like a big risk and a lot of zeros. But in municipal spending terms, $170K is a pretty good price and an acceptable risk to take on. This too would be paid out of that aforementioned capital improvement fund at no additional expense to the tax payers.

The light may be turning off at Bob's but Spudniks will remain - that, too, is part of the deal

There's more to tell you about but this is just the stuff that I can talk about at the present time. After all, it would not be good form to talk particulars about matters that the council hasn't even been fully apprised about yet. Am I sounding like some high roller who's flush and in a hurry to get over to the St Croix Casino on the other side of the county? Other than the payout to Central States (which was a necessity) I guess these expenditures are a bit of a gamble - but it's a good bet, an investment in the future of our city that we're hoping reaps rich dividends for all of us.