WHEREAS, Wisconsin ranks 13th among the states in its number of local governments, with nearly 2,800 cities, villages, towns, counties and school boards within its borders; and

WHEREAS, town and county boundary lines were often drawn a hundred or more years ago and bear little relationship to the needs of Wisconsin citizens today; and

WHEREAS, having so many units of government deliver services within often arbitrary boundaries results in fragmentation and redundancy in the delivery of services to Wisconsin citizens; and

WHEREAS, even worse, city, many village and urban town property taxpayers pay double taxes for certain local services while county residents outside their municipal boundaries pay only once, creating "double whammy" taxation; and

WHEREAS, examples of these services include police/sheriff’s patrol and detective services and parks and planning; and

WHEREAS, the double whammy subsidy paid by residents of many cities, villages and towns results in a distortion of the urban vs. rural tax rates, contributing to decisions to move outside of urban areas, creating sprawl development; and

WHEREAS, the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on State-Local Partnership for the 21st Century, commonly known as the Kettl Commission, has been appointed to recommend changes in the historic partnership between state and local governments in Wisconsin to better tailor that partnership to the needs of Wisconsin citizens in the 21st Century;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of _______________ supports legislation to forbid counties from levying a property tax for services that are not provided to the residents of every municipality within their jurisdiction; and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of ________________supports the creation of incentives for functional consolidation of municipal services regardless of boundaries; and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be forwarded to the governor, leaders of both houses of the Legislature, legislators from the _____________ area and members of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Task Force on State-Local Partnership for the 21st Century.