Renewing my United Way Committment

Last year (2018) I made a commitment to give 1 month of my County Board Supervisor salary to the United Way. A few weeks ago, I renewed that commitment for 2019. I stopped in at the County's Human Resources office and completed my pledge card, to have monthly deductions equal to 1 month of my salary, with donations to be split between organizations like the Heroine Task Force, Elevate, Family Promise, Friends Inc, and NAMI-Washington County. I got elected to serve the community, and returning a portion of my salary to the community furthers that service.

Property Tax Rate (County Portion) Goes Down Again

This Wednesday night, our County Board will be approving our 2019 budget, and it includes a further reduction of the county portion of your property tax.  As you'll recall, last year we reduced the county portion of your property tax down to $2.48 per thousand dollars of assessed value (excluding library and bridge assessments).  That rate is the lowest rate in 100 years.  This year we are reducing the rate by another 9.7 cents per thousand dollars, down to $2.38.

The Washington County Board of Supervisors continues to be good stewards of your tax dollars.

What We Learned About the 58th

Prior to 2018, the last time the 58th saw a general election challenge was in 2008, when Republican Pat Strachota won 82% of the vote.  Quite frankly, that was some pretty old data about the voting trends of the 58th.

Now, in January of 2018, we had a special election with an extremely low turnout, which gave Democrats some false hopes.  Only 4,330 people voted, and Rick Gundrum beat Dennis Degenhardt, 57% to 43%.  By vote counts, the margin of victory was 571 votes.  That gave the democrats some false hopes about the 58th.

We saw that these were false hopes in the fall primary.  7,261 Republicans voted for Rick Gundrum in the Republican Primary.  In the Democratic Primary, 2,634 Democrats voted for Dennis Degenhardt.

Last night, we saw the true make-up of the 58th, in a fairly high turnout election.  28,867 people voted (a 700% increase over the 4,330 who voted in January) and Gundrum won decisively with 71% of the vote, receiving 20, 468 votes and winning by a margin of 12,100 votes.

Whether you like this news or not, numbers don't lie, and tonight those numbers show that the 58th remains solidly and securely Republican.

Nothing I am saying is meant to in any way be disrespectful of Dennis Degenhardt, he has done a lot of good for our community and put a lot of work in this election.  He had as good of a showing in this election as could be expected.  All I am doing is pointing out what we now know about the 58th.

Tuesday's Election

For the upcoming election, I think all my neighbors know that I’ll be voting Republican primary (The signs in front of my yard are a subtle hint).  I thought I would quickly highlight a few contested races, and how I intend to vote and why.  If you are not sure who you are voting for in one of these races, you are welcome to follow my lead.

State Assembly

Since this is the most local race, I’ll start with this one first.  I worked with Rick Gundrum on the County Board, while he was the County Board Chairman, and saw him always work toward reducing taxes by making government smaller, more effective, and more efficient.  Rick was a key leader in reducing the County Tax Rate to the lowest rate in 100 years, while improving the quality of service for many programs in Washington County.

Since being elected to the Assembly in January, he has already started working toward solutions to make property taxes more consistent, including ending the dark store loop-hole that lets retailers skimp on their obligation.    Because of this focus, shortly after his election he was appointed to the 2018 Legislative Council Study Committee on Property Tax Assessment Practices.

Governor/Lt. Governor

Scott Walker has done tremendous things for our state, with Rebecca Kleefisch fully supporting his efforts.  His opponent wants to undo many of the successful reforms Walker has implemented.  Walker’s opponent also has given conflicting views on his plans for taxing us, though with all the spending he is proposing, increasing taxes seems most likely.

State Senator

I endorsed Leah Vukmir in February, and I stand by my endorsement for this excellent candidate.

Attorney General
Brad Schimel inherited a massive backlog of untested rape kits from his predecessor, Peggy Lautenschlager.  It took his office 3 years to get caught up, but he did the hard work and got it done.  Now Peggy’s son, Josh Kaul, has the nerve to lie and claim that Schimel ignored these rape kits for 2 years.  This is in my view the most disgusting negative attack of this election cycle (except for the attacks on Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh.  Negative ads of this scale are a sign of Kaul’s lack of character.

State Treasurer
Travis Hartwig wants to turn the position into one that will look to reduce wasteful government spending, which of course I support.

Secretary of State
Jay Schroeder strikes me as an interesting character.  He raises a lot of important issues about the burden his opponent will place on taxpayers when he retires after 40 years as Secretary of State.  Doug La Follette has done nothing for Wisconsin for 40 years, except work a job that’s only requirement is to work 3 hours per week.  Doug La Follette’s pension will pay out $280,000 per year.  If you don’t believe me, look it up online.

5^th Congressional District

Jim Sensenbrenner holds 100 town hall meetings each year with constituents.  He didn’t go to Washington and forget about us, he fights for us.

I Oppose Legalizing Marijuana

A few Counties have put advisory referendum on their county ballots.  The referendums are seeking support for asking the state to legalize marijuana.

Today, as I left a restaurant after eating dinner, I found a card on my windshield advocating for the legalization of marijuana.  Similar cards had been placed on all the cars in the parking lot.

I absolutely oppose legalizing marijuana, and would oppose any ballot initiative related to the legalization of marijuana.  I know this is an issue in which many of my Republican and Democrat neighbors will agree with me, and a few of my Republican and Democrat neighbors will disagree.

Rationalization is the strongest human drive.  Marijuana users want to rationalize their favorite vice as non-addictive and non-harmful.  Research does show that marijuana has harmful health effects, and is addictive.

Moreover, a recent trend that has emerged is extremely alarming.  Drug dealers, seeing marijuana as a low profit product, are finding ways to turn it into a high profit product.  Lacing marijuana with heroin or fentanyl is one method they have employed, with the hopes of turning marijuana addicts into heroin addicts.  Creating artificial marijuana, often laced with chemicals like rat poison, is another emerging method to increase the profitability of marijuana sales.

I will also oppose medical marijuana, which is the smoking of marijuana for allegedly medical reasons.

What will I support:
I will support research into medications (in pill form) that provide no recreational value, have no addictive qualities, and help treat diseases.  There is some promising research related to pills that treat epilepsy, that use a part of the marijuana plant in a non-recreational form.  If I had a kid who had epilepsy, and there was a pill that would help control it, I'd want him to have that pill (assuming it had no addictive properties).  So I support research into learning more about these potential medications, including potential benefits and side effects, along with addictive qualities.

Shared Services Work, Our Public Health Department Continues to Earn Recognition

Today our County announced that our combined Ozaukee County & Washington County Health Department achieved level III designation.  This is a higher designation than either county's department had ever achieved on their own, and a recognition of the outstanding work our combined health department is doing.  It is also proof that we can combine government services to be both more effective and efficient while saving costs.  Consolidation if done correctly does not mean a diminishment of services, it means better service.

There are a lot more opportunities for our County government to consolidate services with local governments and nearby counties, and I will continue to push for us to explore those opportunities.  While the health department merger happened shortly before I was originally elected, I immediately recognized the benefits of this opportunity and fully supported it.

Read more about this news here: http://www.co.washington.wi.us/inner.iml?mdl=news.mdl&ID=252

School Referendum (West Bend School Board)

While the County Board has no jurisdiction over the West Bend School Board, I am a West Bend taxpayer.  I thought Owen Robinson's analysis of the school board's proposed $50 million referendum to increase taxes was spot on, especially when contrasted with the County's decision to borrow $10 million without raising the tax levy.  To add to that contrast, Washington County's total debt before borrowing $10 million was only $8 million, compared to the $130 million in debt the West Bend School Board currently has.


Here is Owen's article: https://www.bootsandsabers.com/2018/08/21/west-bend-referendum-fight-is-not-over/


The key takeaway is summed up by Owen best:

"It has been proven time and time again that once the basic safety and space needs for school buildings are met, spending more on buildings does not result in better education."

This Week's County Board Meeting.

Refused to raise the tax levy

This week we held to our fiscally conservative values and refused to raise the tax levy. 

We made a responsible decision to borrow $10 million dollars.  Many municipalities and counties use borrowing as an avenue to raise taxes without a referendum.  Our County Controller calculated that, if we chose to raise the levy, tax rates would go up by $.12 per thousand dollars in home value for 2019, instead of decreasing by $.09 per thousand dollars, a swing of $.21 per thousand. 

An amendment was put forward to raise the levy, instead of making our debt payments out of existing funds.  Only 6 supervisors voted for that amendment, while I was one of 18 Supervisors who banded together to vote no to increasing taxes.  While some of my neighbors would prefer that we begin to raise the tax levy, more of them have expressed a desire for fiscal restraint and discipline.

Why is this borrowing decision good?

The simple answer is, we save taxpayers money while fixing our County highways quicker. 

I am cautious about borrowing, and certainly don’t want to engage in massive borrowing sprees.  I recognize that responsible borrowing has its place in funding capital projects like our County highways.  After researching this extensively, and asking County Administration to prepare estimates on what costs we would incur if we delayed construction and saved money under a “pay as you go” plan, some key facts that stood out to me:

·         Our County has a very low debt, currently only about $8 million.

·         Our County’s legal debt capacity is $730,717,405 ($730 million), a limit I never, ever, ever want to get anywhere close to approaching.

·         We will pay about $4.5 million in interest over the life of the loan.  This compares to an estimate of about $5.7 million in deferred maintenance costs if we delay reconstruction to do a “pay as you go” approach.  We save $1.2 million by borrowing money now.

·         The loan is for the minimum allowable time period, 10 years.

·         The loan is part of a 2 step plan, with a second loan of $12 million in 2023. 

·         We will have the option to pay off each loan up to 3 years early, and potentially save taxpayers another $700,000 dollars.

·         The 5 County Highways being reconstructed will be good for 50 years (with resurfacing after 25 years).

·         Per Administrator Schoemann, this plan will fund all needed road reconstructions through 2050.

·         We are not increasing taxes in any way to pay for this borrowing.

Simply put, we are doing $22 million in highway reconstruction without raising taxes.

Audit

Baker Tilley reported on their audit of our financial statements.  They were extremely impressed with the County’s fiscal health, including our spending restraint, low debt, and ample financial reserves.  When I add in that our County has the lowest County tax rate (the County portion of your property tax bill) in over 100 years, and has the 4^th lowest County tax rate in the state at $2.70 (per thousand dollars of home value) it is clear that we are living out our conservative values.

The counties that are lower than us are Waukesha ($2.07), Ozaukee ($1.86), and Vilas ($2.28).  The highest was Menomonee at $9.07.  Milwaukee County is at $5.10, which is above the statewide average of $4.40. (WCA Green book, based on taxes levied for 2016)

Consolidations

I am guessing we all read the editorial on social media from Sheriff Schmidt.  While I respect him tremendously, I was disappointed by the misportrayal of our efforts.  It almost seems like he is using scare tactics to pit the public against the County Board.

We as a County Board have been pretty clear about our willingness to work collaboratively with other nearby governments to consolidate services and save tax payers money while preserving service quality and accountability.  I have often wondered why Washington County has a shared-ride taxi service that is largely redundant with the shared-ride services of West Bend, Hartford, Ozaukee County, and others.  One of my neighbors who does not own a car specifically talked about the hassle in coordinating a shared-ride trip to Port Washington, and the long wait at the Newburg gas station.  This is one of many examples where I am sure that we could find a way to consolidate services for the benefit of taxpayers, without reducing the level of service we provide (we might even be able to increase it).

When we begin exploring any idea, we recognize that there are benefits, and that there may also be adverse consequences.  Exploring options is in no way a commitment or obligation to enact an option.  Moreover, the portrayal that we are trying to engulf local communities and coercively force them into unwanted consolidation is, to be blunt, a complete load of horse-#$%#%&#$.

I would have an extremely difficult time voting to dissolve the West Bend Police and roll them into our Sheriff’s department.  Law enforcement is usually best when it is local.  I suspect that many other Supervisors would agree with me on that.  If the Mayor of West Bend and Police Chief of West Bend were both saying that this was a great plan, then maybe I could be persuaded, but otherwise I would be pretty reluctant.

I am also not sure that the County would even have the legal ability to consolidate services with a local government against their will.  Maybe we do, but I doubt it.

On the other hand, is it possible that we could consolidate 911 services in a way that improves service while saving the tax-payers money?  Maybe, or maybe not.  Is it possible that 3 or 4 Counties could run a combined jail, again saving the taxpayers money while still running a secure, quality jail?  Again maybe we can.  What about our court systems, could they be combined?  Again, I think it is worth researching and considering.  I think we are always prudent to consider such possibilities, without committing to any of them until we have fully researched them and have all of the facts.

Should our new sheriff be a key part of that conversation?  Absolutely.  Quite frankly, I hope that whoever is elected sheriff will be willing to openly look at these options, without being fearful of seeing his “fiefdom” diminished.  If there are consequences that we need to consider, I encourage our next Sheriff to raise those so that they can be considered.  We want to work collaboratively, because quite frankly, consolidation never works if it is not a collaborative effort.  Solutions to problems can never be overcome if we can’t work together collaboratively.

Administrative Staffing

I voted in support of the staffing change.  It reduced overall staffing by .5 FTE, and puts us in a better position to meet our upcoming challenges and initiatives.  Since we are clearly being so fiscally responsible, I ask you to join me in recognizing how this position can help us further our efforts to remain fiscally responsible.

The position that was created, and I stand by my vote in support of it, will spend a portion (but certainly not all) of their time working to explore these and other possibilities collaboratively with other local governments.  They will also work to support organizations that are being transitioned away from the tax levy, including the History Center and AIS, so that those organizations will be in the best position to sustain themselves as privately-funded entities.  I want to give those organizations the option of having additional county support as they make that transition. 

Most importantly, Administrator Schoemann is promising that he will fire this person if they cannot produce taxpayer savings totaling twice their salary by 2020.  As the Hartford Mayor, Supervisor Michalek, said during our meeting, “If we can spend $2 to save $4, I’ll take that all day long.”  I wholeheartedly agree.

We continue to live out our Conservative values in Washington County.  Our commitment is to continue to explore ways to make government smaller and more effective, to maintain fiscal responsibility and spending restraint, and continue to sustain our County as a great place to live and work.

Upcoming Primary Election (My Thoughts)

For the upcoming primary election, I think we all know that we can only vote in the primary for 1 party (but a reminder doesn’t hurt).  I also think all my neighbors know that I’ll be voting in the Republican primary.  I thought I would quickly highlight a few contested races, and how I intend to vote, as some of these races have candidates who are somewhat obscure.  If you are not sure who you are voting for in one of these races, you are welcome to follow my lead.

Secretary of State---While the job itself is powerless and unneeded, somebody is going to occupy the job.  I recommend voting for Jay Schroeder, as he seems to be the serious candidate in this race.  A few years ago Jay ran for Assembly against an incumbent in his district (the 55^th), and earned 2,487 votes (35%).

We all remember his opponent, Spencer Zimmerman, who moved up here from Janesville for a month to run for Assembly after the death of Bob Ganon.  He ultimately garnered a total of 37 votes out of 3,217 cast.  As soon as he lost, he was gone, only to resurface a few months later to run in the 42nd Assembly District.  There he again came in last in a Republican primary, though he garnered 81 votes there.  His past history includes never winning a contested race despite running in various races in Wisconsin and Nebraska.  You can see it for yourself in my source material here (link here).  I don’t regard him as a serious candidate.

Treasurer---With 2 good candidates here, I lean towards Travis Hartwig.  This is another powerless job that should be eliminated, but somebody is going to occupy the job.  Hartwig has a stronger background in finances, though both candidates seem like good people.

Senate---I am wholeheartedly endorsing Leah Vukmir, as she is so much more experienced than Kevin Nicholson.  I began endorsing her very early, in January or February of this year.  Leah was elected to the Assembly in 2002, to replace Scott Walker.  In 2010 she defeated an incumbent Democrat to earn a seat in the Wisconsin Senate.  Kevin is a good guy, and I am glad he became a Republican, but U.S. Senator is too big of a post to start your political career in, with rare exception.

Governor---Scott Walker

Congress---Jim Sensenbrenner

Sheriff---This is the toughest pick for me, as both of the individuals running are excellent.  It is for that reason that I have waited so long before deciding who I will vote for.  Jason Guslick has a willingness to speak very frankly about the issues we face, which I appreciate and relate to, and which I believe we often need.  He is strong on 2^nd amendment issues and tough on crime.  Marty has the respect of a lot of people who I trust, including several very conservative County Board Supervisors who have served on the Public Safety Committee and worked directly with Marty.  While I will be thrilled to support whoever is elected, and love having 2 great choices for this important office, in 2 weeks I’ll be casting my vote for Marty Shulties.

Big Borrowing Decision

From a fiscally responsible viewpoint, borrowing is something we need to be cautious about, but something we may sometimes need to do.  In our personal lives, most of us would not own a house or car because without borrowing money.  On the other hand, a minimum wage worker should not be borrowing money for a $300,000 house and a Cadillac Escalade while owing $30,000 in credit card debt and $60,000 in student loan debt.

Key point---There is a place for responsible borrowing, but great care is needed to ensure that we are not putting ourselves in a bad financial situation.

The County Board is being asked to consider borrowing $10 million dollars to fund road improvements, and another $12 million in 2023.  This represents almost 20% of our annual budget, so this is a big decision.

I was at this week's Executive Board meeting, where the resolution to pursue this borrowing was passed.  The resolution supporting the borrowing proposal will come before the County Board in August.  Some of the key things about this borrow:

• We will decline to increase the tax levy.  With levy limits, borrowing money is an exception that allows a government agency to increase the tax levy.  We will not be electing to do this.  Instead, we will repay the loan using existing tax revenue.
• The bonds are each 10 year issues, with the 2018 bond around 2.68% interest and the 2023 bond estimated at around 3.87%.
• Repaying the bonds back early would be an option after 7 years.
• The current County debt level is extremely low.  At last check, we had the 2nd lowest debt per capita of any county in Wisconsin.
• What future borrowing would we anticipate after 2023?
• If we chose to do a "pay as you go" approach, it would require deferring some road maintenance until around 2030, and there would be additional costs associated with that.  Besides the increases in prices for labor and supplies, there would also be additional routine maintenance for the years between 2023 and 2030.  I have asked for some information on what those additional costs might reasonably be estimated to be.  Whether or not it exceeds the $4.5 million in interest payments will be a key consideration for me.
• The Executive Board rejected the idea of a referendum for a 1-year tax increase to cover the maintenance costs.  That 1 year increase, using "back of the napkin math," might cost taxpayers an additional $10 for every $100 on their tax bill.  So for example, my tax bill is about $2,600 so this would be an extra $260 on my tax bill for 2019, with taxes returning to 2018 levels for 2020.  As I mentioned, the executive committee rejected this approach.

I am going to continue to review the information on this very closely as I consider whether or not this is a good move for the county.  In the meantime, I also welcome feedback from any of my neighbors in District 3.

Productive Night for the County Board

Tonight was a very productive night for the County Board.  Some of the things we got done:

Meeting Per Diem Pay---My campaign promise was to reintroduce a proposed ordinance to end per diem pay for meetings.  That proposed ordinance came up tonight.  In order to pass, it would need a minimum of 18 votes (2/3rds of all Supervisors).  Based on how people voted on this issue when it came up before, as well as a recent vote on this issue, it looked like it would be a close vote.  On top of that, 2 supervisors were absent, which reduced the likelihood of getting the necessary 18 votes.  After assessing that, I didn't think the votes were there to get this done.

When the issue came up, Supervisor Deiss quickly offered a compromise, which Supervisor Schleif gave a quick 2nd to.  The compromise moved per diem payments to a heavily reduced flat rate of $20 per meeting.  Besides saving the County money, this also removes a financial incentive to unnecessarily prolong meetings (the system we just voted out increased per diems if meetings ran longer, which hypothetically could be an incentive to stretch out meetings).

While my preference would be to eliminate per diem pay altogether, I recognize the value of getting 80% of what I want through compromise.  This value is even greater when the alternative is seeing an issue fail for a 2nd time.  We still have Obamacare because we couldn't get 52 Republican Senators to compromise, I wasn't going to repeat that mistake on this issue.  I gave my support to this compromise, and got 80% of what I wanted.

By a vote of 21-3, the amended ordinance passed.  This is undeniably significant progress on this issue.

I thank every County Board Supervisor for working together on this issue, to get it done, and I especially thank Supervisors Deiss and Schleif for proposing the compromise.

One additional note:  The Washington County Daily News referred to this reduction as a "change in compensation."  While a reduction is a type of change, so that technically is true, it doesn't tell the whole story.  The fact that this is a reduction in pay is an important detail, and I am disappointed that the paper didn't highlight that.  Had we voted to increase our pay (as if we would ever do that), I am certain they would have used the word "increase."   Why hide the fact that we did something so good?

Levy Limits
A proposed resolution would support ending levy limits.  While I think the levy limits may be overly harsh for counties like ours, who would still be fiscally responsible and reduce taxes without levy limits, I can't support abolishing levy limits statewide.  I was an absolute no vote.

Executive committee had originally voted this down unanimously (0-7), but wanted every Supervisor to have a chance to voice their opinion.  In the end, this resolution failed a second time, with 6 yes votes and 18 no votes.

I thank every County Board Supervisor who joined me in opposing ann effort to end levy limits state-wide.

Milwaukee's Trolley
SEWRPC presented their annual report tonight.  It included mention of the VISION 2050 plan, which included a regional tax for several rail-based projects for Milwaukee, including their trolley.  I had led the effort to withhold out endorsement of any regional tax or rail-based passenger transportation (like the trolley).  SEWRPC's proposal made no mention of that, instead referencing our approval of the plan.

I specifically queried the SEWRPC representative about that, and was assured on the record that Milwaukee fully understands that we have zero interest in any regional tax to fund their rail projects.

Darkstore Resolution
By a vote of 23-1, we passed an ordinance affirming our continued support of efforts to end the dark-store tax loophole, which allows national retailers to skirt their tax obligation by shifting their burden onto small businesses and homeowners.

I thank every County Board Supervisor for working together in support of this issue.

Pizza Ranch is Open, and It's Good

It was about 5 years ago that I stumbled upon a Pizza Ranch while driving through Portage.  My kids didn't want to try it, they thought the name sounded weird, but as the dad I overrode their decision.  I didn't know anything about them, other than that they probably served pizza.  Within 5 minutes, the kids and I were loyal Pizza Ranch customers.  Now, when I am traveling somewhere that has a Pizza Ranch on the route, I'm often planning a stop there.

Two years ago, a local family started working on opening a Pizza Ranch in West Bend.  It took a lot of work, but this week they finally got it open.

Today I took the kids there for our first visit.  At 10 minutes after eleven, there was a line out the door.  The food was just as good as I would expect, the interior was more contemporary than most Pizza Ranches, and the staff was all great.  The community support was great too, every table was full and people were lined up out the door, waiting for tables to open up.

So glad we finally have a Pizza Ranch in our hometown.

Milwaukee's Trolley and Levy Limits

Let's talk about Milwaukee's Boondoggle Trolley, and why it is important to keep levy limits.

When I talk to neighbors of mine in Washington County about Milwaukee's trolley, I don't have any neighbors telling me that we should be helping Milwaukee to pay for this vital project (and I use the term vital project satirically).  Instead, the opinions I hear tend to fall along these lines

• If Milwaukee wants to be stupid with their money and build a useless trolley, that's their right, but we shouldn't pay for it.
• Building a trolley in 2018 is such a stupid idea, that it should be illegal.  Milwaukee residents shouldn't have to pay for it.

My opinion aligns with the second opinion.  Building Trolley's in 2018 is moronic.
I recall hearing Belling contrast all of the negatives of the trolley with all of the positives of Uber.  Interestingly, my own person experiences bear proof to that.  To draw the contrast in my own experiences:

Kenosha's Trolley. 

I was in Kenosha several years ago, on a cold winter day, visiting their museum with my kids. As we pulled up, I saw a trolley pulling away from a nearby trolley stop. I didn't know Kenosha had a trolley stop, but thought "That might be something fun for the kids." My kids were around 6-8 years old at the time. I decided that when we were done in the museum, we'd try to catch the trolley.

An hour or 2 later, we were leaving the museum, and I began looking for the trolley. It was nowhere in sight. I took the kids to the car, where we waiting for 5 minutes, freezing, while watching for the trolley. It was still nowhere to be seen. I took the kids back inside, and from the giftshop we watched out the window looking for it, but after another 10 minutes it was still nowhere in sight. I finally decided to take the kids back to the car and give it a couple more minutes. Then we gave up, and as we drove away.

My point is simple---the trolley was so inconvenient, we gave up and left despite wanting to ride it.

Uber. 

I was in Buffalo last fall with a few coworkers. We decided to go out for dinner, and picked a place a few miles away. The hotel shuttle wouldn't be back for 20 minutes thought. One of my coworkers was a frequent Uber user. She pulled up the app and said "There's someone 3 minutes away who can drive us there." We all decided to give this strange Uber thing a try. Stunningly, 3 minutes later, a guy walks into the hotel, sees my coworker, recognizes her from her picture in the app, and introduces himself as our driver. We walk out to the car, and reach our destination 4 miles away in almost no time.  I was stunned by how convenient it was.

Again my point is simple---Uber was more convenient than the hotel shuttle when we were in the hotel lobby.

In contrasting Uber (which started in 2009) to trolleys (which began as horse-drawn trolleys in 1820 and switched to electric trolleys in the 1890s), Uber is much more flexible, convenient, and adaptable.  It is moronic to be rebuilding trolley lines in the 21st century.

Levy Limits

Levy Limits exist to protect taxpayers from irresponsible government officials.  In Milwaukee, the Mayor complains about levy limits, and how he can't provide the basic services that are needed.  At the same time, while the 1st part of the trolley isn't even operating yet, he is already planning 3 expensive extensions to Milwaukee's trolley system.  If you don't believe me, read about it on the trolley's website: themilwaukeestreetcar.com.  He's not even waiting to see if people ride the trolley before working to expand it.

The planned expansions are:

1. The Forth Street Expansion, which would run from the Amtrack station up 4th street to the new Bucks Arena.
2. Walker's Point Expansion, which would extend the trolley south to Greenfield Avenue.
3. The Bronzeville Expansion, which would go from the bucks arena up to North Avenue.

If Washington County was released from levy limits, we would still be lowering our taxes.  If Milwaukee is released from levy limits, they'd go on a massive spending spree, building all of these trolley lines and ballooning tax bills.  Our state is one of the most heavily taxed states, and we need to bring that under control.

Human Services Committee Vice-Chairman

Today I was nominated by Chairwoman Deiss to be the Vice Chairman for the Human Services Committee.  I accepted the nomination and was elected to this position.  I am excited for this opportunity, and for this endorsement of my efforts from my fellow County Board Supervisors.

Former County Board Supervisor Les Borman had been the vice-chairman for the committee for the last 2 years.  I look up to Les, and his professional approach to helping oversee the Human Services Committee.  I also have learned a lot from Les over the last 2 years.  With the changes that were made to the structure of the Standing Committees, and the new duties the Human Services Committee is taking on that statutorily must be performed by elected officials, Les was unfortunately no longer eligible to remain the Vice-Chairman for the Committee. 

Les will be remaining on the Human Services Board, which will now be a portion of the duties of the Human Services Committee, and I look forward to continuing to work with him and learn from him.  I also look forward to continuing to work with Sara Malchow of the United Way, and new-comer Jessie Kroening as Human Services Board Members.

New County Board Supervisors joining the Human Services Committee included Frank Carr (Buzz) and Richard Bertram.  Both of them brought a lot of great insight to today's meeting.

2016 Legislative Breakfast hosted by the Heroine Task Force.  Seated with me are current County Board Chairman Don Kriefall, Former West Bend Mayor Mike Miller, Current Assemblyman Rick Gundrum, and Current Human Services Committee Chairwoman Kristine Deiss.

Back From Space Camp (4H Youth Trip)

I am back from Space Camp.  I was honored to be an Adult Advisor for the 3rd year, for the annual Wisconsin 4H youth's trip to Space Camp in Huntsville Alabama.  I was one of 15 adults who helped 148 youth experience Space Camp.  All of the youth are 4H members in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, and this year they include 10 youth from Washington County.

Below are a few pictures from the experience.

Full Moon rising over the Space Shuttle

Full moon behind the Saturn IV Rocket

Space Shuttle on display

Space Camp's "Rocket Garden"

Saturn IV and Saturn V rockets

Saturn 5 Rocket









Space Shuttle simulator

Selfie inside the Space Shuttle Endeavor simulator

Effort to End the Dark Store Loophole Continues

At the June County Board Meeting, the County will consider a resolution to affirm its view in 2016 that the State Legislature needs to end the Dark Store loophole.  Two years ago the resolution was introduced by me, after learning about this issue from City Alderman Chris Jenkins.  This time around, it is being authored jointly by myself and the full Executive Board.

Remember, the dark store loophole allows national retailers to shirk their property tax obligations, pushing them instead onto small businesses and local homeowners.  Walgreens began the onslaught of National Retailers in West Bend using this loophole.  Meier had only been open a week or 2 when they initiated their effort to use this loophole.

A lot of our local legislators are in full support of ending this, including Assemblymen Rick Gundrum and Robert Brooks, as well as State Senator Duey Stroebel.  They worked hard during the last legislative session to try to put an end to this tax loophole, and I know they'll be working hard again on this issue after the fall elections.

White House Visit for County Board Supervisors

Every one on the Washington County Board received an invitation to go to the White House.  The opportunity includes a White House tour along with a conference with key White House officials.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend due to a schedule conflict, however Washington County will be well represented.

Levy Limits Resolution

Next week the Executive Board will be looking at a resolution related to levy limits.  the resolution asks the Wisconsin Counties Association to lobby of ending levy limits.  I have very mixed feelings about this resolution.


Concerns I have with levy limits:

• Washington County has the 5th lowest county property tax rate in the state, and has historically always been a frugal and responsible county.  As such, levy limits unfairly punish us.
• Washington County has the lowest property tax rate in 100 years.  our Mill rate now is lower than our mill rate was in 1917, even though our County Government is doing a lot more than it did 100 years ago.
• The federal government and state government frequently give our county ( and all counties) new mandates without funding them, putting us in a position where we have to cut other services to fund the newly-mandates services.
• Levy limits force us to cut more then we might want to cut.  I would prefer to voluntarily reduce the size of county government and reduce taxes at a moderate pace that seems responsible and ensures that we can provide essential services.  In contrast, right now we are forced to involuntarily make larger cuts to the size of County Government that may jeopardize essential services.
• Costs continue to increase every year.  Labor costs go up, equipment costs go up, materials costs go up.  If our income stays flat while our costs continue to go up, it forces us to continue cutting services.

Concerns I have with ending levy limits:

• While Washington County has the 5th lowest County Property tax rates in the state, as a state we have one of the highest property tax rates in the country.  Ending levy limits allows counties like Milwaukee and Dane "free reign" to spend on more nonsense like the boondoggle trolley Mayor Barrett is building (because nobody uses Uber anymore, everyone is switching to using trolleys).  If I was a County Board Supervisor in Milwaukee or Dane County, I could have a field day finding government waste to discard.  I don't trust Counties like Milwaukee and Dane to make good decisions for the taxpayers, and their decisions have a huge impact on the business climate in Wisconsin.
• Any attempt to end levy limits for all Counties will not pass the legislature in Madison, so lobbying for such a change is a waste of time.  The legislators in Madison are looking at the overall situation, that we are a high tax state that needs tax reform.

I am considering how I want to approach this resolution.  I am giving strong consideration to proposing an amendment that would focus on setting some sort of floor for tax levy limits, and allowing counties who reach that floor to manage their own budgets again.  This would reward our historically frugal approach while forcing Milwaukee and Dane county to continue to cut government waste.

Update---The Executive Board shot this resolution down unanimously.  They clearly agree that we don't want to give Milwaukee free reign to spend as they chose. 

After voting it down, the Executive Committee decided to forward it to the full County Board for consideration.  While I would ultimately like to see a floor to levy limits for Counties with a demonstrated outcome of fiscal responsibility and conservatism, I cannot support a blanket revocation of levy limits.  I will most likely vote against the resolution as written.

Ending Wasteful Per Diem Meeting Pay for County Board Supervisors

As a reminder, I decided back in 2016 when I was first elected to refuse all per diem pay, a decision I still stand by and continue to follow.

In 2017, an ordinance change was proposed looking to end per diem pay for County Board Supervisors.  The resolution was amended by the Executive Board to also include a $600 per year reduction in County Board Supervisor salaries.  The effort failed by 2 votes.

During my re-election campaign, I promised to reintroduce that proposed ordinance.  After winning re-election, Chairman Kreifall and I discussed this.  We decided that our best chance for success was to move this forward as 2 separate ordinance changes, one ending per diem pay and the other reducing our own pay.  I will be keeping my promise, but just doing it in 2 stages instead of one.

Right now the meeting packet for the May Executive Committee meeting is being assembled, and unless there is a last minute change, there will be a proposed ordinance change.  That proposed ordinance would end per diem pay.  I am listed as an author on the proposed ordinance.  Assuming it again passes the Executive Committee, the entire board will vote on it at our June meeting. 

It will again require 2/3rds of all Supervisors to vote yes in order to pass.  This means it needs at least 18 yes votes.  Any combination of 9 no votes, abstentions, or Supervisors who are absent will defeat this proposed resolution.  Since it got 16 votes last time, I anticipate that it has a good chance of passing, but I expect a very close vote on this one.

With any luck, we will soon be done will per diems that incentivize government waste.  We don't want our pay system to encourage inefficiencies.  Since eligibility for per diem pay is based on the number of meetings attended, we don't want Supervisors holding unneeded meetings to increase their per diem pay.  Per diem pay increases if meetings go longer, so we want to prevent Supervisors from prolonging meetings to increase their per diem pay.  We want to keep government efficient, and eliminate unnecessary meetings that waste staff time.

Update:
The resolution did pass the executive committee, and will be moving to the full County Board at our June meeting.

The Washington County Daily News had and article about this in Saturday's (May 19) newspaper, but the seemed to have gotten confused on the issue.  Their headline was "Executive Committee votes to replace county supervisors’ per diem with monthly salary."  I don't know where they got the idea that we are adding to our salary in place of per diem pay, as we are certainly not.  The resolution that is being proposed, and has my name signed onto it, eliminates per diem pay and keeps Supervisor pay unchanged.  As I mentioned above, we plan to reduce Supervisor pay in a separate resolution that will be brought up later in the term.

Here is the language from the official minutes of the Executive Committee meeting:

Ordinance: Per Diem Compensation - County Board Compensation - (4.20) Moved by Mr. Bassill, seconded by Mr. McCune to approve an ordinance eliminating per diem compensation for County Board members, and forward to the County Board.  Motion carried with Ms. Deiss and Mr. Schleif voting no

You can read these minutes for yourself at 5/15/18 Executive Committee Minutes.  You can read the resolution for yourself at 5/15/18 Ordinance to eliminate per diem compensation

To be clear, there is absolutely no pay increase being proposed, and I would oppose any effort to increase our pay in place of per diem pay.

Committee Assignments for 2018-2020

For the 2018-2020 board, here are the committee assignments I will be serving:

• Human Services Committee
• History Center Liason
• Quasi-Governmental Agency Ad-Hoc Committee (probable)

The Human Services Committee may be very active, as we will begin over-site of the ADRC, Veteran's Services, and Samaritan.  From a budgetary standpoint, it will be almost half of the Counties annual budget in one committee (I haven't calculated the exact percentage).

Serving as a liason to the History Center will enable me to maintain over-site of their transition towards self-sufficiency.  Our History Center is an important part of our community, but as I have mentioned in the past, the County will not be able to continue its very generous funding of the History Center for more than 2-3 years.  They are initiating their own plan towards becoming self-sufficient, and I want to be an ally in that effort, so this will be a nice role for me.

The Quasi-Governmental Agency Ad-Hoc Committee will be reconstituted over the next month or so, and I anticipate continuing my assignment with that committee.  That Committee has already overseen the EDWC (Economic Development Corporation of Washington County) in transitioning to self-sufficiency.  AIS (the group that runs County Fair Park, the Visitor's Bureau, and the History Center are all being asked to work towards transitioning to self-sufficiency.

Capital Improvement Plan

Last week Tuesday, I voted against the proposed Capital Improvement Plan.  My primary areas of concern were:

• A proposed increase in the County's reliance on sales tax revenue for its regular operations.  Right now 40% of the revenue from the sales tax goes towards the county's operational expenses.  With this plan, in 2023 the company will increase that to 50%.
• I am concerned about the additional borrowing of $10 million in 2019 and $12 million in 2023.  Overall, the County is pretty responsible in its borrowing, but borrowing $22 million is concerning. 

While the plan passed, the borrowing will come before the board again, and at that time I'll be carefully scrutinizing the particulars.  There is a time and place for responsible borrowing---after all, most of us have mortgages on our house.  At the same time, $22 million in 5 years is a lot, and I am going to cautious before voting for any new borrowing.

Thank You for Re-Electing Me

I just saw the election results, and I want to thank my neighbors in District 3 for re-electing me, so that I can continue to do the good work I have done over the last 2 years.  I am honored and privileged to serve again.  I also want to thank my neighbors who cared so much about our community that they engaged in great discussions with me about the issues we face.  Thank you as well.

I also want to thank everyone who supported me in my re-election effort.  Whether it be by hosting a yard sign, writing a letter to the editor on my behalf, endorsing me, or encouraging neighbors to vote for me, you efforts are appreciated.  Thank you everyone.

I also want to thank Ralph Hensel.  Ralph has served our community honorably, first as a career educator, and then for 14 years as a County Board Supervisor.  While Ralph and I may not agree on every issue, we agree on a lot and we both care very deeply about making sure Washington County remains a great place to live and work.  I have a tremendous respect for Ralph and everything he has done for our community, and my wishes and prayers are all for good things for Ralph and his family.

I've made my promises over the last few months, and over the next 2 years I will be working to see them through.

And once again, to my neighbors in district 3, I offer my most sincere thanks.

Let's Seriously Review the County Sales Tax

As I have met with neighbors in District 3 over the past few months, one question keeps coming up again and again.  Can we please get rid of the sales tax?

The simple answer is that if we never look at it, we for sure will never be able to do it, so let’s look at it.

My Promise

To be clear, I am not promising an end to the sales tax.  What I am promising is that I will request that our County Administrator and County Board chairman work in 2018 to develop at least 4 different plans for how we could get rid of the sales tax.  I am going to request that at least 3 plans include no new taxes or tax trading, since I want at least 3 plans that are entirely based off of budget cuts and program cuts.  This will give us the ability to see if there is any viable way to end the county sales tax while remain consistent with our values.

Once we have these plans, we can look at whether the cost would be too much for us to bear, or whether it might be possible and achievable to responsibly eliminate the sales tax.  While my gut tells me that the program cuts most likely will have a cost that does not match our values, we won’t really know for sure unless we push ourselves to explore what may be possible. 

And who knows, maybe we’ll surprise ourselves and find a responsible way to eliminate the sales tax without compromising our values.  One thing is for sure, if we never look then we will always have the sales tax, so let’s at least look.

Background Info

The sales tax was put in place long before I was elected.  The community is right to feel disillusionment about the sales tax, since it was originally presented as a temporary tax to provide property tax relief and fund capital improvements.  When the sales tax came up for renewal in 2016, there was no plan for how we could eliminate it, so it would create a massive disruption to the County’s various programs.  I felt like I had no choice but to vote to renew it.

For a long time I have just accepted the common talking point that we only have 2 options for eliminating it:

1)      Replacing it with a different tax.  Sure, we could easily eliminate the sales tax by putting in a different tax, but what does that solve?  Really, all that does is trade one tax for another, what I call tax-trading.  Tax-trading is when one tax is eliminated by replacing it with a different tax, such as a property tax increase, a wheel tax, or another new tax. 

2)      Massive program cuts that don’t match our values.  The option to do massive program cuts would significantly hinder the county’s ability to deliver on many of the things it currently does.  Those services include the Sheriff’s department, Samaritan, maintaining the County Highways, child protective services, and any of the other services the County provides.  Does that really match our values?

Recently I’ve reached a bit of a turning point on the issue.  Instead of sticking with what I think, I’ve decided that it is time to explore what might be possible, and to see what the impact to County programs would be.  When the sales tax comes up for renewal in 2021, I don’t want to be making a decision based on what I think, I want to make a decision based upon what we have studied and what we know.  And if there is any chance of ending the County sales tax, we would need to start working on that now.

That’s why I am promising is that I will request that our County Administrator and County Board chairman work in 2018 to develop at least 4 different plans for how we could get rid of the sales tax.  I am going to request that at least 3 plans include no new taxes or tax trading, since I want at least 3 plans that are entirely based off of budget cuts and program cuts.