County Nullification

It seems awfully early for this, but the 2011 Brown County budget is already in the news. From the Press Gazette:

Brown County Board Vice Chairwoman Mary Scray said the 2011 county budget, likely to be tighter than this year's, calls for a contingency plan if state and federal aids continue to drop.

Scray wants department directors to prepare budget cut alternatives that would reduce their proposals by 10 percent so the County Board has options when it votes on a new budget.

The story notes that Scray is not the only one concerned and County Executive Tom Hinz, "expects the 2011 county budget to force more difficult decisions than the current budget did."

The article ended with this slightly provocative thought:

Scray said mandated state programs aren't excluded from the list of possible cuts, and she plans to investigate those guidelines."What happens if we don't do a state-mandated program?" Scray said. "What's the penalty? In my opinion, if a department thinks an unmandated program is more important than a mandated one, let's go from there. Is the juice worth the squeeze?"

Possible delay in improvements to Brown County GV

Anyone who travels Brown County highway GV south of highway 172 (including me) can tell you it is need of repair and expansion. Unfortunately, this may not happen in 2010. The Press Gazette reports:

A lengthy delay in widening Brown County GV has done little to clarify the future of a road improvement planned for many years in Bellevue and Ledgeview.

County officials have budgeted $2.3 million next year for the project — which includes a roundabout — to accommodate increasingly heavy traffic.

But the county has not decided whether to designate the road project as part of a long-discussed corridor leading to a new Fox River bridge in the county's southern sector. Adding to questions about the project, officials in Bellevue and Ledgeview do not unanimously favor starting work next year....

[Bellevue] Village Administrator Aaron Oppenheimer said he hopes the county will focus instead on the planned widening of Brown County EA, or Huron Road, another north-south road where Bellevue has seen growth.

While Oppenheimer agreed that GV needs repairs, he said EA is a higher priority because of the level of development there....

County Board members have approved a 2010 budget that includes $2.3 million for GV and $1.5 million for EA. Whether either project moves ahead, however, will depend on whether the county issues bonds to raise the money — a process that generally takes place in the spring.

Bellevue would be wise to hang on to Oppenheimer, he's obviously going to go to bat for them regardless of the facts. I doubt that any dispassionate observer could travel GV and Huron and then conclude that conclude that Huron was a higher priority.

I understand the uncertainty around the route related to a future southern bridge, but some level of improvement to GV cannot wait.

Brown County Approves Budget

By a 23-3 vote the Brown County Board approved the 2010 budget.  The Press Gazette reports:

The Brown County tax levy will increase by about $2.026 million for 2010 under a budget approved Monday by the Brown County Board.

The budget is about $589,086 lower than county Executive Tom Hinz's proposed budget and would increase the county's portion of the property tax about $6 on every $100,000 of property value.

The new tax levy, if signed by Hinz, will be $84,152,149 — about $2.026 million, or 2.5 percent — more than 2009. The tax rate would be 4.5801, up from 4.5444 this year.

Both the supervisors themselves and the non-union county employees get a pay cut under the approved budget.  There would also be furlough days for all employees with the details yet to be worked out.

The next step belongs to County Executive Tom Hinz:

Hinz has until the Dec. 16 County Board meeting to sign the budget or submit his vetoes.

"I'm going to sit back and look at it but not make any rash decisions," Hinz said following the 23-3 vote, with supervisors Adam Warpinski, Andy Nicholson and Dave Kaster voting against it. "The furloughs are something that has to be fine-tuned."

Proposed Brown County Budget Released

The proposed 2010 budget for Brown County has been released. The Green Bay Press Gazette reports:

Brown County Executive Tom Hinz has proposed a 2010 budget that would increase spending about $4.1 million, add $7 of tax to every $100,000 of property value, and cut 13 full-time positions....

The total proposed budget of $240,412,022 $240 million includes a tax levy of $84,741,235 about $85 million. If approved, it would raise the tax rate from 4.5444 to 4.6122 per $100,000 of property value , an increase of 1.4920 about 1.5 percent.

While I don't envy the county government in their task of budgeting during such tough economic times, I read this description and I see taxes up, spending up, services cut. As an outsider looking in, this seems like an odd combination.

While a tax increase of 1.5% may seem slight, there are undoubtedly families in Brown County that will be negatively impacted by this amount. In a high unemployment and stagnant wage environment, even a modest increase can loom rather large.

You can read the proposed Brown County budget here. At the link there is also a message from County Executive Tom Hinz.

The supervisors will vote on the budget on November 9th.