One month before the Grant County Board of Supervisors would need to approve the 2012 budget, that body took its first look at the numbers as a whole, which projects a shortfall of $190,000 for the upcoming year, with members positive they will be able to shave off the $44 million budget.
The county was impacted greatly by $443,229 in cuts to its shared revenue from the state, as well as state cuts in general transportation aid. Even with reductions in what the county pays for employee retirements, and a drop in the cost of healthcare due to changes in the county’s healthcare plan, finance director Nancy Scott estimates that the county currently would have a shortfall of $190,266 if the budget was adopted as it currently sits.
“We lose quite a bit of our shared revenue,” Scott said of the decrease, done so the state could make up its own $3 billion deficit. “We have quite a bit to do,” Scott noted of making changes.
The budget as drawn up includes a 2 percent increase in wages for employees, half of the 4 percent rate of inflation for 2011 that workers would be capped at under Wisconsin Act 10 passed by the state legislature earlier this year. That act, which severely reduced collective bargaining for public employees, did have a provision that allowed employees to negotiate wage increases up to the rate of inflation.
Contacted Wednesday about this, Personnel Director Joyce Roling said that the county would have to negotiate those wages with local unions, which do not have to recertify until early in 2012 as part of the state law. The county and the unions have not had any negotiations since Act 10 was introduced early this year, and no movement has been made by either side. Those employees have been working without a negotiated contract for all of 2011.
Some departments vary greatly in their budgets from this year to next. Several department see a modest decrease for the upcoming year because of increased contributions by employees for their retirement plans and health insurance.
Others, like the 46-employee highway department, noted those reductions do not offset the expected $142,000 in reductions to the general transportation aid. While the highway department only expects expenditures to increase $49,078, revenue will decline by $75,208 leading to a levy impact increase of $124,286. Highway Commissioner Dave Lambert said that the department made modest cuts to maintenance work for the upcoming year, meaning less work can be done as prices of materials continue to rise. Snow plowing and roadsalt portions of the budget were not cut.
The county clerk’s budget increased $37,885 to prepare for four expected elections in the presidential election year. Meanwhile, the county expects to see its investment earnings decline by $70,481 because of the economy.
Carol Beals questioned the change in levy impact from the fair department, which saw its levy draw increase $34,924 for 2012. “That’s a huge increase,” Beals said. Fair committee chairman Steve Adrian said that part of that, just under $7,000, was the cost of the department budgeting to cover Lancaster’s stormwater sewer rate, which had been taken out of the general fund in years’ past. The increase is also due to the change in time for the fair secretary, with the retirement of Dolores Schwantes this coming April.
Campground moves forward
A campground proposed in Jamestown Township in the southern section of the county took one step toward becoming a reality as the board approved changing the county’s comprehensive plan, which opens the door for a zoning change for the property.
Earlier this year, the board chose not to take up a rezone request for the 40.5 acre parcel where the proposed Sandy Bottoms Campground would be located because the move would be against the county’s comprehensive land use plan. The campground, which would be located on the former Mathy sandpit, across Bluff Road from the 45-home Skemp subdivision, currently is zoned for agricultural use, and would need to be rezoned in order to accommodate the mix of 141 permanent and temporary campsites the property’s owner, Tom Schmeider, is wanting to build, as well as a pool and convenience store.
Unlike last June’s board meeting, or the May zoning committee meeting where law enforcement was called in to break up an argument, Tuesday’s meeting only had Schmeider and his engineer from Delta 3, Dan Dressens, as well as a few residents of the subdivision, who were represented by their attorney David Helmke. Dressens explained the project again, noting the permanent campsites would have electricity, water, and sewage facilities, and that to comply with DNR regulations they would have plans on dealing with rainwater, which would run into the pond already onsite.
“This isn’t just out there, unregulated,” Dressens said, after being asked that the campground be designed to deal with the precipitation of a 10-year storm. He added that a UW-Platteville professor estimated that the campground would have an economic impact to the county of approximately $200,000 annually.
Schmeider was asked to further elaborate about the convenience store, which he said would have a bar that served alcohol, as well as sandwiches and pizza, and would be open beyond camping season. Schmeider also stated that he planned on erecting a fence on top of a berm in between the land and the subdivision which would be 14-16 feet high to block neighbors’ views into the campground.
Helmke, speaking for residents wishing to block the campground plan, stated that in the county’s comprehensive plan it called for changes to be done “with extreme caution.”
“You are going to have 140 campsites next to a bar,” Helmke continued, adding that there were additional concerns, such as large campers traveling on Bluff Road. “Who is going to look at buying those homes?” Helmke said of the value of the houses in Skemp.
Helmke also stated that there was some question to whether or not Jamestown Township properly held a public hearing before they voted to change their comprehensive plan, 3-2. One report was that no public comment was heard on the subject.
Board member Larry Wolf wondered if those who opposed the campground had an alternative plan for the land. “They are a weed-infested pile, is that what you want?” Wolf asked, talking about other former quarries in the county as well as this one.
Helmke responded that the group did not have an alternative plan since they did not own the property, but that they would think light residential development would be a greater generator of revenue than the campground.
Schmeider said that the residents had blocked residences going into the property at an earlier time. He also said he was told by the owners of the residence closest to the border to the property that they were ok with the campground.
Another member of Schmeider’s party said that other agricultural development would be allowed on the property. “We could put in a pig farm,” the woman said.
The board approved the change to the comprehensive plan. The board would still need to adopt a zoning change as well, which was expected at a later date.
Earlier in the meeting, the board also adopted revising the county’s farmland preservation plan, which would allow farmers to qualify for increased tax credits if their property was in exclusive agriculture and/or in an agriculture enterprise zone. In order to qualify for the increased credits, the county had to approve a new plan that complies with the Working Lands Initiative plan, which is the new version of the decades-old Farmland Preservation program.
“Doesn’t this fly in the face of zoning?” Larry Wolf asked.
Zoning administrator Terry Loeffelholz said that the new program allows for property owners to build up to four additional homes on their property, but makes sure they are clustered on the least productive land within that parcel. The mother parcels created with the adoption of the new plan follow the property even if it is divided and sold, meaning that would reduce sprawl along the countryside. A minimum of 20 acres would be needed to build an additional house.
Supervisor Pat Schroeder said the change would prevent what happen to Liberty Township, where under the former rules, all that was needed was a minimum of 35 acres to build a home. He said this led to a number of homes dotting the countryside, and a number of acres surrounding these homes were taken out of agricultural use as those landowners did not want to farm. “For my township, I would have been happy to sell one acre and farm the rest,” Schroeder stated.
“That’s what they saw in Dane County at an accelerated rate,” Loeffelholz added.
In order to qualify, landowners would still need to have a nutrient management plan that was updated on a regular basis, and their property must be in a municipality that adopted an approved comprehensive plan. If the county would not have updated their plan, no farmer would have been able to enroll, both new farmers as well as those who had contracts that expired before the new farmland plan was adopted.
In other business, the board approved a $100,000 loan for equipment that would be purchased for the new Chrysler dealership that will be built in Lancaster. Grant County Economic Development Corporation Director Ron Brisbois stated that as part of an agreement the Les Mack dealerships made to retain the GM franchises in Lancaster when that corporation was going through restructuring was to remove any other franchises from that location. For many years the GM and Chrysler franchises were under the same roof in downtown Lancaster. The plans call for building a new dealership near Les Mack’s Ford dealership on the north side of the city.
“We are talking about retaining 25-28 jobs,” Brisbois explained of the loan, which would be a seven-year agreement with a three-percent interest rate. None of the money would be used for construction, only for new equipment to be at the dealership.
The board also approved grant applications for the First Breath smoking cessation program for expecting mothers, an application to get a speaker for the annual Plunge drunk driving mock incident. Pat Schroeder announced that he planned on bringing to the Orchard Manor committee next week a review to set up a policy for allowing signs on the property bordering STH 81/61 south of Lancaster. The proposal would replace space that had been available to fundraising groups on the courthouse square up until recently, when the public property committee decided to reduce the availability of space, still allowing annual events that had been approved in the past.
In other business, the board approved a $100,000 loan for equipment that would be purchased for the new Chrysler dealership that will be built in Lancaster. Grant County Economic Development Corporation Director Ron Brisbois stated that as part of an agreement the Les Mack dealerships made to retain the GM franchises in Lancaster when that corporation was going through restructuring was to remove any other franchises from that location. For many years the GM and Chrysler franchises were under the same roof in downtown Lancaster. The plans call for building a new dealership near Les Mack’s Ford dealership on the north side of the city.
“We are talking about retaining 25-28 jobs,” Brisbois explained of the loan, which would be a seven-year agreement with a three-percent interest rate. None of the money would be used for construction, only for new equipment to be at the dealership.
