It's happening: Referendum and the Spring 2024 election

 

When I ran for mayor
in 2016, the first 100
homes were given this flyer

When I ran for mayor the first time in 2016, I knocked on many doors asking for people's consideration as they voted in the upcoming election. More than a few remarked to me: “If I do vote for you, please don't raise my taxes!” At the time, I didn't have a clue how municipal government worked. Since then I've learned a thing or two but trying to sum it up in a few concise statements is challenging to say the least.

For example, a city council or village board can't just willy-nilly
“raise taxes” to satisfy their budget. Imagine if they could! Then every small town would have a municipal pool or whatever was the item residents or their elected leaders thought they needed for their community. On the contrary, the State of Wisconsin sets a levy limit for each community, based on a certain formula, that informs the council the maximum amount of levy they can collect on property taxes. If the financial obligations of the city exceed the revenues that are collected one of three things must happen: the city may borrow money (which creates other issues), the city may cut or diminish services it provides or ask the citizens for permission to exceed the levy limit that the State has set for us. Unlike the federal government which can (and does!) print money, every municipal government must live within its means, Chetek included.

We are at one of those moments. At January's common council meeting the council voted unanimously to go to referendum this April. We are asking the citizens of Chetek to exceed our levy limit by $350,000 annually in order to sustain the full-time police officer recently hired, add an additional full-time officer and add one additional public works employee. For how long will we need to exceed the levy? The legal term is “in perpetuity.” In other words, forever. If the referendum is successful it would cost approximately $180/year per $100K of property value, $120 of which would go to pay for the two police officers and $80 for public works.

Chief Ron (left) with new Chetek PO
Connor Haukom

Why do we feel we need to take this action at this time? Currently,
we want to remain a “24/7” community meaning that local police protection is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. In the past, our police department was made up of an assortment of full-time and part-time officers. Due to national trends in law enforcement it has become nigh unto impossible to find part-time police officers these days. There are just not as many recruits as there once were. And every part-timer naturally wants to secure full-time employment.

If you are one of the crew at Chetek Public Works you wear many hats. Picking up garbage, pushing snow, checking on lift stations, maintaining equipment, cleaning out sewers and the list goes on. What's more, the new waste water treatment plant that is presently under construction is a bit more complex operation than the one we presently have. If I understand what Public Works Director Dan Knapp is telling me, it's too soon to tell if we will need to allocate more man-power there but either way the need in his department is real.

In the weeks and months leading up to the vote on April 2 it is our plan to provide opportunities to educate the public on our present budgetary needs. This will involve information that will be released in the paper and on-line. What's more, we will be providing “listening sessions” with Chief of Police Ron Ambrozaitus, Public Works Director Dan Knapp and City Administrator Laura Stelzner in order to hear and receive questions about the needs of these departments as well as the particulars of the referendum.

At this stage, no question is dumb so feel free to ask away by emailing me at chetekmayor@cityofchetekwi.us or calling me at 715-925-6078. The council and I are cognizant that this is a weighty decision for our community to make and are sensitive to the financial realities involved.