May 28, 2002 e-newsletter

Water Industry Sees Rate Hikes Statewide

A provision in both the Senate and Assembly versions of the state budget would substantially increase water rates statewide, says the  Wisconsin Rural Water Association (WRWA).

The budget provision would fund the Department of Natural Resources' water division from segregated revenues rather than general tax dollars. Combined with possible cuts in state revenue sharing, the shift could hurt users of municipal water supplies especially severely, said association director Ken Blomberg.

"Many utilities have already been asked by their governing boards to look at placing fire protection charges on customers' utility bills," Blomberg said. "And when the Water Division takes the largest cut in all of DNR's agencies, they will pass that shortfall on to the utilities in the form of an user fee. Our industry feels strongly that the cost of protecting Wisconsin's water resources belongs to all citizens of the state, not only those served by public utilities."

More Freeways?!!!

That's the title of a brochure the City of Milwaukee published after the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission called for a $6.25 billion reconstruction of the Milwaukee area's freeway system that would gobble up more than a square mile of land and demolish 216 homes and 31businesses.

SEWRPC replied that it really wasn't proposing more freeways, just an additional 127 miles of freeway lanes.

Missing from the study is any strategy for alleviating freeway congestion, short of adding lanes -- a strategy the planners concede is doomed to failure. (SEWRPAC planners apparently never have journeyed to Chicago, where the Chicago Transit authority operates 'El' trains in the median of the Kennedy Expressway.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the plan would cut four or five minutes off commuting times through downtown Milwaukee, but overall, congestion still would be worse than in 1999. To see its story, look here.

For the "More Freeways?!!!" brochure (in Adobe Acrobat format), look here.

Virginia embraces municipal telecom utilities

A fight by a small Virginia community for the right to provide telecommunications services to its residents is over. Earlier this year,  the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill that recognizes the right of a municipality to provide telephone service, including high-speed Internet service.

The office of Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore asked the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate as moot a U.S. District judge's order that found an earlier state effort to keep local government out of the telecommunications business a violation of the the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996.

The new state law allows Bristol, Virginia and other localities that offered electric service as of March 1 to get into the telecommunications business, and allows other localities to offer telecommunications services if fewer than three commercial companies are providing services.

Municipal telecommunications will be a growing force that encourages competition in the industry, both nationally and in Wisconsin, David J. Benforado, executive director of Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin, told the Wisconsin Public Utility Institute last month in Madison. For an outline of his presentation (in Adobe Acrobat format), look here.

Sheehy Task Force Named

Gov. Scott McCallum has named members of a task force chaired by business leader Tim Sheehy that will take another look at the state-local partnership in Wisconsin.

Members include one city leader from an Alliance city: Mayor Tim Hanna of Appleton. Also on the roster is Rick Gale, president of the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin, who helped so much in making the March 12 shared revenue rally at the Capitol a success.

Other members include: Lt. Gov. Margaret Farrow; Menominee County coordinator Ron Corn; Mark Dahlberg, Grantsburg village president; Dunn County Executive Jane Hoyt; Racine County Executive Jean Jacobson; Town of Campbell Chairman Dan Kapanke; Town of Angelo Chairman Tom Leverich; Rep. Dan Meyer (R-Eagle River); Bill Mielke, the consultant who drafted a revenue-sharing plan for eastern Racine County;  J. Michael Mooney, the municipal borrowing guru; Mequon Mayor Christine Nuernberg; Rep. Tony Staskunas (D-West Allis); and Ed Zagzebski, a Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority board member.

For the Journal Sentinel story on the appointments, look here.

'Green' seen as a Good Government Strategy

There are two events in Milwaukee June 11 aimed at providing public works directors, planners and capital plant people with information on how green building principles can save public dollars and provide public sector leadership opportunities for environmental stewardship.

The Wisconsin Green Building Alliance says the Milwaukee events will focus more on the "nuts and bolts" of green building practices and guideline development, and a workshop in Madison June 12 will focus on policy strategies.

For more information, look here.

Talks Continue on Wausau Fire Merger

Five Wausau-area municipalities continue to talk fire service merger, which would save Wausau taxpayers money but cost taxpayers in surrounding communities more at the same time it improves their fire service.

A metropolitan fire department might have saved much of a historic warehouse that burned in Wausau ion February, advocates say. They say it also would lower fire insurance costs and boost economic development opportunities in the entire region.

For the Wausau Daily Herald's May 23 story on the talks, look here.

Madison -- Gov. Scott McCallum's election ads may indicate  a change of heart by the governor on state revenue sharing, the Alliance of Cities said in a news release May 23.

McCallum is running paid political advertisements urging legislators to pass a budget that protects "our schools, our seniors, our police and our firefighters."

That's in contrast to the governor's Jan. 22 plan to eliminate $1.1 billion in revenue sharing in 2004. Shared revenue amounts to 51% of Ashland's operating budget, 46% of Milwaukee's operating budget, 42% of Sheboygan's general-fund budget, 35% of Cudahy's general-fund budget, 32% of Kaukauna's general-fund budget and 30% of Racine's all-funds budget, to cite a few examples among Alliance members.

For the text of the news release, go here.