County Sales Tax---Thieves Fighting Over the Loot?

Right now, our County Executive race is focusing on a discussion about the Sales Tax.  Adam Gitter is proposing that the County share sales tax revenue with municipalities.  His hope is that it will provide extra revenue to fund road repairs.  Josh Schoemann wants to maintain the status quo, and raises legitimate concerns about how Gitter's proposal would impact County Finances.

To be blunt, if you believe that excessive taxation is theft (a belief I have) then the whole issue can be compared to two thieves arguing over how they will share the loot (The COunty and Municipalities begin the thieves in this analogy).

Long before I was elected to the County Board, and long before Josh Schoemann was appointed as County Administrator, the County Board made the decision to implement a "temporary" sales tax.  A few years later, still long before Schoemann came to the county and still long before my election, the decision was made to start using the sales tax to fund routine operations.

In January of 2017, after being on the board for only 9 months, I was confronted with a vote about renewing the sales tax.  There was no plan on how we could get rid of it, just a default assumption that we had to renew it.  In short, County financing was dependent upon continuing the sales tax.  To be blunt, it seemed like we were trapped in a situation of renewing the tax or destroying county operations.

While I would love to end the County sales tax, it doesn't seem realistic.  In my 2018 reelection campaign, I promised to push for plans for how we might end the sales tax.  This is the one promise I have made that I have made no progress on.  In a private discussion with one county official, the picture looked bleak.  Massive cuts to the sheriff's department, massive delays in repairing county highways, and massive cuts to County Administration.

What does seem realistic is to fight any effort to implement new taxes.  There was talk in 2017 about a wheel tax, and I made my opposition to that idea known.  I voted no on the POWTS fee (tax) every time it came up for a vote.

Regarding the sales tax, the lawsuit against Brown County may settle the issue.  The Wisconsin Institute of law and Liberty is suing.  The basis of their suit---Wisconsin law states that sales taxes cannot as an additional revenue source to fund new spending, but instead must be used entirely for property tax relief.  If the suit is successful, the sales tax sharing scheme can't fund more road repairs.

In the end though, the whole sales tax discussion really does look like a bunch of thieves fighting over the loot.

Bossert: Yet Another Promise Being Kept

When I ran for re-election in 2018, one of my promises was to support reducing the size of the County Board.  My hope was for a graduated plan, starting with a reduction to around 21 for the 2022 election.  That promise looks like it will be kept, and earlier than anticipated, as the County Board formed a structure advisory committee that has now recommended a reduction to 21.  Over the next month or two, the proposal should come before the full board for consideration, and I will support it.

To see that promise, review my original statement from march of 2018 here:  Promise to Reduce County Board Size

Some members of the community, primarily from the towns, are worried that the redistributing will be done in a way that will diminish the influence of Supervisors from the town.  I don’t think that will happen.  There are rules on how districts get set up, and those rules in general favor structuring districts with similar groups together.  With that in mind, it is likely that districts that encompass the City of West Bend would not have large chunks of township lumped in with them.  Instead, the City of West Bend would likely go from 6 Supervisors to 5 (or possibly even 4).


To be frank, I will be very skeptical of any redistributing plan that would retaining 6 Supervisors for West Bend.  For those who live in the towns, that should be the yardstick by which you measure the fairness of the 2022 redistricting proposals.  If the County Board goes down to 21, but West Bend keeps 6 Supervisory districts, then it is time to be skeptical.  If instead West Bend goes to 4 or 5 Supervisory districts, then the plan is probably pretty fair.

While we can vote to reduce the number of Supervisors to 21 in the next few months, it cannot take effect until after the 2020 census is complete.  Likewise, the redistricting cannot occur until after the 2020 census.  Redistricting will happen in 2021, and be effective for the 2022 elections.