Boots & Sabers

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Category: Politics – Wisconsin

FBI Investigates Milwaukee Judge for Obstruction

by | 2118, 22 Apr 25 | , | 0 Comments

Well, well, well. Recognize where we are.

EXCLUSIVE: Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge Hannah Dugan is under FBI investigation for allegedly helping an illegal immigrant defendant evade ICE agents who came to arrest him in her courtroom during a hearing Friday morning.

 

The defendant’s attorney was made aware of the arrest and told Dugan’s clerk, who then told Dugan. She allowed the defendant to hide in her jury room (which is normally off-limits to everyone except the judge and members of the jury).

 

The ICE agents presented their warrant to Chief Judge Carl Ashley, who sent them back to Dugan’s courtroom to arrest the defendant.

 

The FBI was notified about Dugan’s apparent obstruction of justice and is currently investigating.

Leftist Supreme Court Empowers Dictatorial Government

by | 1058, 19 Apr 25 | , | 2 Comments

The people of Wisconsin voted for an activist leftist court that would undermine representative government and advance dictatorial rule. And here we are. One might remind Leftists that there may one day be a Republican governor who will use this power against their agenda, but they don’t care. This is where Leftists are better than Conservatives about wielding power. They wield it with no apologies and no consideration for anything other than the immediate gain.

In case you missed it, the liberal justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court just allowed Tony Evers to raise taxes for the next 400 years.

 

That’s not a typo.

 

The court ruled 4-3 on April 18, 2025, that the Democratic governor had the authority to use a partial veto in 2023 to lock in school spending increases through 2425 by deleting a hyphen and a couple of numbers.

 

[…]

 

In his dissent, Hagedorn accused the liberal justices of turning the executive branch into a super legislature.

 

“How does a bill become a law? According to the majority, one option looks like this: The legislature passes a bill in both houses and sends it to the governor. The governor then takes the collection of letters, numbers, and punctuation marks he receives from the legislature, crosses out whatever he pleases, and — presto! — out comes a new law never considered or passed by the legislature at all,” Hagedorn wrote. “And there you have it — a governor who can propose and enact law all on his own.”

WI School Districts Whine After Making Terrible Decisions

by | 0752, 15 Apr 25 | , | 1 Comment

This is happening all over Wisconsin. I saw a post about Port Washington schools having the same problem.

This is a recent board deck from the West Bend School District (thanks to the local resident who sent it to me). They hired 60… SIXTY… people with “free” federal Covid slush fund money. This is a district that has had declining enrollment for the better part of a decade and is projected to continue to have declining enrollment for another decade.

And yet, when someone came around with free money, they found a way to spend it by padding their staff with useless (I say “useless” intentionally) staff. How many of those staff members are friends of family of existing staff members? How many are doing jobs that have absolutely zero impact on student performance? The decision to hire these people was a terrible decision and a complete waste of money. How can I tell? The West Bend School District’s student performance has not improved. That is the #1, #2, and #3 goals of a school district – to educate kids. If adding these people did not positively impact educational outcomes, then it was a waste of money.

Now that money is finally going away and school districts all over Wisconsin – bolstered by the bleating of Governor Evers – are whining and crying about “cuts.”

Get bent.

They never should have wasted that money in the first place and the fact that these people should now all be fired is 100% the responsibility of the idiots who made the decision to hire them in the first place. The vast majority of Wisconsin’s school districts are terribly run and should not be rewarded for their mismanagement.

A Few Early Election Thoughts

by | 2125, 1 Apr 25 | | 1 Comment

Well, darn. It looks like the liberal will win the Supreme Court race. This will have terrible, long-term impacts on Wisconsin. The more pro-education candidate may yet win the DPI race. We’ll see. That would be a marginal improvement, but a win is a win. Thankfully, the Voter ID Amendment will pass. Huzzah. A few thoughts…

Wisconsin is a liberal state. It just is. It leans liberal by 5%-10%. Yes, those people are crammed into a few areas, but there are more of them. It was more even ten years ago, but migration (conservatives out to low tax states and liberals in to work/school in Madison) has changed it. A Conservative like Walker is unlikely to win a statewide race any time soon. A populist like Trump can pull it off.

The Supreme Court race was completely nationalized. This needed to happen for Schimel to have a chance, but it also obliterated the dynamic of a race about issues. It wasn’t about a liberal court usurping power and turning back the clock by illegally invalidating Act 10, Wisconsin’s abortion law, redistricting, etc. etc. etc. It became Pro Trump v. Anti Trump. And while Trump won Wisconsin a few months ago, it was against perhaps the second worse presidential candidate of all time. Crawford was even able to blunt the correct attack on her as a weak-on-crime liberal judge with a bunch of lies about Schimel’s record.

The liberals have won the recent supreme court elections with a proven formula. They run a woman. The abortion issue favors them and the liberal court smartly kept that issue alive for this election. And they overtly promise things to constituent groups – kill School Choice to the teachers; kill Act 10 to the unions; gerrymander districts for the Dem machine; who knows what else. Yes, she had proxies make the promises to keep her hands clean, but promises were made. You can hate the new rules or you can play by them.

The state Republican leadership needs to go. All of them. And they need to move the state party HQ out of Madison to a red area. They have one job – to win elections – and they suck at it. If they are going to get serious about winning elections, they need to absolutely gut the state party and get some competent people in there.

It is going to be interesting to see what happens to the voting patterns in a post-Trump era. He has a unique ability to activate the liberal base. I suspect that will get more difficult for Democrats when Trump is no longer on the scene, but that is likely several years away.

I’m disappointed in you, Wisconsin, but I understand you.

Poll Shows Supreme Court Race in Dead Heat

by | 1803, 31 Mar 25 | | 0 Comments

Interesting.

I think everybody, including me, thought that Crawford was significantly ahead as recently as ten days ago. There is generally a structural 5%-10% structural advantage for liberals in Wisconsin in non-presidential elections. Crawford seemed to be cruising. Then, I think two things happened.

First, and most obviously, Republicans successfully nationalized the race with a Trump endorsement and Musk stepping in to support Schimel. This countered the money advantage of the liberals and began to activate the Trump base – which is not reliable in off-cycle elections.

Second, and more subtlety, the race for DPI began to narrow. The DPI has long been a fiefdom of the liberal teachers’ unions. It almost didn’t matter who ran against the union candidate, because they could turn out the votes in an April election to swamp anyone. But this year is different. The incumbent Jill Underly has been an abject failure. So much so that the normally Blue Wall of support is fractured. Governor Evers is tepid. Much of the Black electorate in Milwaukee is frustrated with her apathy toward educating black kids in their city. Even the liberal Madison State Journal endorsed her challenger, Brittany Kinser.

Kinser is a Democrat, but she has run as an open-minded education advocate. She reached out to Republicans, Conservatives, School Choice supporters, and others who passionately support education, but have been ignored by DPI for decades. She touched a nerve. Kinser’s campaign has brought out people to vote who are motivated by education, but not as motivated by a judicial race.

All of this has moved the momentum toward Schimel and Kinser. It’s not a pure Red coalition. It is a coalition of Conservatives, Populists, MAGA, parents, and people terrified of their property taxes skyrocketing when a liberal court strikes down Act 10. But while the momentum has clearly shifted, that doesn’t mean that the liberals won’t still win. Schimel and Kinser have a significant uphill climb to win, but I would rather be them right now than Underly or Crawford.

Get out and vote tomorrow if you haven’t already. This race will be razor tight. Every vote matters.

Tony Evers Backs Lower Educational Standards for Kids

by | 1846, 28 Mar 25 | | 2 Comments

He was never for the kids. He is always for the government bureaucracy. Always. Every. Singe. Time. Meanwhile, more and more Wisconsin kids will be disadvantaged because they can’t read, write, or do math like they should.

Gov. Tony Evers on Friday vetoed the legislation that would have restored learning standards and report card scores in the state.

 

“For many reasons, this is an untenable result for kids, for schools, and public education in Wisconsin,” Evers said in his veto message. “Most importantly, metrics for school scores and standards should be based on science, data, doing what’s best for kids, and improving student outcomes, not the whims of legislative party control or what is politically palatable for lawmakers in the legislature.”

 

The legislation would have restored Wisconsin’s standards to what they were the year before COVID, and realigned them with the Nation’s Report Card.

 

Wisconsin State Superintendent Jill Underly ordered the standards changed last fall. She claimed she made the change to “better reflect” what Wisconsin school kids are actually learning.

Governor Evers Proposes Massive Tax Increase Budget

by | 2034, 25 Mar 25 | | 0 Comments

Wow. He’s not even pretending any more.

The latest look at Gov. Tony Evers’ budget puts a price tag on just how much the governor hopes to get out of tax and fee increases, as well as new “collections” from the state.

 

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau released the report Monday.

 

“In summary, the changes included in the Governor’s budget would increase net taxes by $2,223,493,200, and would increase net fees by $356,301,800,” the LFB wrote. “In addition, it is estimated that measures…to enhance the collection of current taxes would generate an additional $189,420,400.”

 

“Gov. Evers told all of us during his budget address in February that he was going to cut taxes. Yet, about a month later, we are now finding out the actual truth: Gov. Evers’ budget proposal is irresponsible and unsustainable,” Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, said on Monday. “The good news is Legislative Republicans won’t let that happen and will work hard to craft a fiscally-responsible budget that both addresses our state’s priorities and delivers meaningful tax relief.”

 

LFB reported that Gov. Evers is proposing 14 different tax increases, and 28 proposed tax decreases.

Republicans Propose Penalties for MPS

by | 1625, 6 Mar 25 | , | 0 Comments

There’s no way this won’t be vetoed by Governor Evers. There is no amount of illegal or crappy behavior that Evers won’t accept from a public school. Heck, Evers doesn’t even care that almost no black kids who attend MPS can read or write at grade level. Why would he care about the kids’ safety? This being the case, Republicans should go big.

Proposed legislation would penalize the Milwaukee Public Schools if the district cancels plans to place police officers inside school buildings. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Republican lawmakers are proposing a law that would financially penalize the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and the city of Milwaukee if they stop complying with a state law that requires police officers in schools.

 

The bill, coauthored by Rep. Bob Donovan (R-Greenfield) and Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), comes after months of noncompliance with state law by the school district. Wisconsin Act 12, which provided a boost in funding to local governments, included requirements that Milwaukee Public Schools place 25 school resource officers — sworn police officers assigned to schools.

Voters Sue Over Uncounted Ballots

by | 1620, 6 Mar 25 | , | 1 Comment

Since WEC is incapable of holding election officials accountable for their incompetence or malfeasance, voters will have to do it through the courts.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Four Wisconsin voters whose ballots were not counted in the November presidential election initiated a class-action lawsuit Thursday seeking $175,000 in damages each.

 

The voters were among 193 in Madison whose ballots were misplaced by the city clerk and not discovered until weeks after the election. Not counting the ballots didn’t affect the result of any races.

 

The Wisconsin Elections Commission investigated but did not determine whether Madison Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl failed to comply with state law or abused her discretion.

 

She didn’t notify the elections commission of the problem until December, almost a month and a half after the election and after the results were certified on Nov. 29.

 

The goal is to reinforce and strengthen the right to vote in Wisconsin, said attorney Jeff Mandell, who is general counsel of Law Forward, which filed claims against the city of Madison and Dane County on Thursday.

Tony Evers Renames “Mother” to “Inseminated Person”

by | 0954, 22 Feb 25 | , | 22 Comments

How insulting.

MADISON, WI (WSAU) – Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’s office introduced a bill on Friday afternoon that would change the way a Wisconsin state law addresses biological women and men.

 

According to the bill known as 2025 Senate Bill 45, which was first reported on by conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell, Section 3106 contains numerous examples of terms such as wife, husband, mother, and father being crossed out and removed in favor of terms like spouse, person, and even inseminated person.

The word “mother” is not just a biological designation. The word is pregnant with cultural meaning connoting love, protection, caring, family leadership, and so much more. When someone carries the title of “mother”, they carry much more than the simple biological fact that someone else inseminated them. How insulting it is to a woman and mother to diminish her importance to only being something that a man did to her. Women are not livestock. Mothers are not just inseminated persons.

Mauston School District Voters Raise Their Taxes

by | 2117, 18 Feb 25 | , | 2 Comments

Sigh… and people wonder why Wisconsin is still a tax hell.

Here’s something worth pointing out. Remember that the Mauston School District put this exact same referendum on the November 5th ballot – a high-turnout presidential election where one could get the input of the most voters. In that election, the referendum failed:

Mauston School District Operational Referendum

No 2,635 Yes 2,566

Notice the vote total. 5,201 voters. 5,201.

The school district turns around and put the exact same referendum on the February ballot – one of the historically absolute lowest turnout elections Wisconsin has. Why? Because it’s a non-partisan primary election with very little on the ballot and immediately after a presidential election where there is voter fatigue.

The turnout today?

3,078

That’s 40% fewer voters

We need referendum reform at the state level to prevent predatory school districts from shopping for low-turnout elections to get unpopular referendums passed. Three simple reforms would make a huge difference:

  1. A school district can only ask for a referendum once per board election. This is usually every 2 years, but sometimes once a year. That way the same elected board can’t keep going back to the well without facing the voters.
  2. A referendum that is rejected by the voters may not be resubmitted in the same form to the voters withing 5 years.
  3. Operational referendums are only valid for one board cycle. Then they must be resubmitted to the voters for continuance.

Wisconsin GOP Proposes to Reverse Dumbing Down of School Benchmarks

by | 0746, 22 Jan 25 | , | 0 Comments

Yes, they should absolutely do this.

Republican lawmakers plan to introduce a bill aligning state education test scores with national standards after Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly made controversial changes last year.

 

Each year, Wisconsin elementary school students take the Forward exam and high school students take the ACT. For many years, the categories were labeled “advanced,” “proficient,” “basic” and “below basic.”

 

The DPI recently changed the standards for the Forward Exam by renaming the levels of student achievement and lowering the scores to reach each category, increasing the number of students who score in higher categories. The new labels are “advanced,” “meeting,” “approaching,” and “developing.”

 

The category changes have been met with criticism from Republicans and even Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. It also means the test is no longer aligned with the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Look to California Fires for Why Evers’ Mob Rule Proposal Should be DOA

by | 0826, 9 Jan 25 | | 0 Comments

As we pray for those impacted by the fires in L.A., we also know that many of those who are losing their homes and possessions do not have fire insurance. One of the main reasons is that insurers have been prohibited from charging premiums that reflect the risk. Many of these people live in an area that has a historically high risk for fire and the increased urbanization and poor fire management policies has increased that risk. Despite this, insurers can’t increase premiums enough to make insuring those people viable. Why?

Proposition 103, approved by California voters in 1988, requires the “prior approval” of the state’s insurance regulator before insurance companies can implement property and casualty rates, including homeowner’s insurance.

 

“California has a consumer-friendly approach with Proposition 103, and the insurance industry hates it,” said Kenneth Klein, a California Western School of Law professor and expert on natural disasters.

 

Added Klein, “The insurance industry has been battling that proposition for a long time.”

 

Under Proposition 103 and other California insurance regulations, property and casualty insurance companies cannot take all the losses associated with one event, such as this year’s wildfires, and then simply put them onto next year’s rates. The state requires a longer-term trend, not a one- or two-year disaster impact.

California’s prop 103 did a few things to cap insurance premiums. It restricted insurers from passing on the cost of individual events by requiring them to only factor in the historical trend. It also prohibited insurers from creating risk models for the future. They were only allowed to look at historical data. Well, what happens when insurance customers are looking at future weather patters, the effect of urbanization, and policy choices that increase risk? Doesn’t matter. The insurers can’t use that data to set rates.

If insurers are looking at real actuarial data that calculates a risk and the premiums necessary to insure that risk, but they are not allowed to use that data or charge those premiums, what is the rational decision? They stopped insuring people, of course. Since Prop 103 was passed, numerous insurers have left California completely and many more dropped customers if the insurers couldn’t charge a rate that made insuring them worth it.

It’s gotten so bad, that California actually changed the rules at the beginning of this year to try to alleviate it.

The regulations that take effect Jan. 2 arose out of a broad agreement Lara reached with the industry that gave insurers regulatory concessions, including the use of the computer models, in exchange for a commitment by large insurers such as State Farm, Farmers and Allstate to write policies in neighborhoods prone to wildfires equivalent to 85% of their statewide market share. That would mean, for example, an insurer with a 10% share of the state’s homeowners insurance market would have to cover 8.5% of the homes in riskier neighborhoods as identified by the department. No such requirement currently exists.

It’s a cockamamy scheme cooked up by bureaucrats that probably won’t work in getting a significant number of additional people insured, but the story is that even in California, they realized that they have made it economically inviable for insurers to provide homeowners insurance and they are trying to do something about it.

All this to point out that here in Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers is proposing that Wisconsin adopt direct ballot measures like California. Prop 103, which is leaving thousands of Californians uninsured and homeless, was one of these direct ballot measures. It was an idiotic policy that passed on an emotional wave of ignorance and hate of insurance companies stirred up by activists.

No, we don’t want this here in Wisconsin.

Evers Proposes Mob Rule

by | 1927, 7 Jan 25 | | 0 Comments

If you want to see why this is a bad idea, you need not look any further than California. A Republic with representative government is the least bad form of government. Straight democracy is mob rule. Thank goodness this proposal is DOA.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ plan to let voters repeal and create state laws without legislative involvement met opposition on Monday from Republican leaders of the Legislature, who signaled that the idea is likely to be rejected for a second time.

 

[…]

 

Evers said on Friday that the state budget he plans to unveil next month will include a mandate that legislators take up a constitutional amendment allowing voters to petition for ballot proposals to repeal state statutes and create new ones. Evers made a similar proposal in 2022 for voters to repeal the state’s 1849 abortion ban, but Republicans killed the plan.

Mauston School District Eyes Third Referendum Within a Year After Voters Say “No”

by | 2034, 25 Nov 24 | , | 2 Comments

This is going to be a long post, so buckle up. It is just one example of how Wisconsin government school districts cry poor and threaten kids’ education even when they are swimming in cash and how the data shows exactly where the money is going. Let’s go…

The Mauston School District is threatening to dissolve after an operational referendum was rejected by the voters this month. But wait, there’s more… the failed referendum in November was after they had another failed referendum just seven months ago in April. But wait, there’s more… despite the voters telling the school board to live within their means twice within a year, the school board is considering putting ANOTHER operational referendum on the ballot in February. But this time, they are threatening to dissolve the school district if they don’t get more cash. They just can’t possibly see a way forward without getting more money. They are blaming the usual suspects: declining aid with declining student population, rising expenses, and that dastardly equalization aid formula. You can read their agony in this story by WPR, but that’s the gist.

What’s really going on?

All of the data used in this post is found in various reports publicly available from the state DPI. I prefer longitudinal data and the data set takes us to the 2022-2023 school year. I’ll refer to school years going forward by the year when the school year ended. All good? Let’s dig into the Mauston School District and their alleged woes.

ENROLLMENT:

For the past 10 years, enrollment in the district has been relatively flat with an average enrollment of 1,448 students. In 2013, they had an enrollment of 1,462. In 2023, they had an enrollment of 1,410. Over a 10 year period, that’s an enrollment decline of 3.6% over a decade. This is actually better than most school districts that are facing steeper enrollment declines due to the overall demographic trends in the state.

So let’s lick apart the superintendent’s statement from the WPR story:

“It’s so enrollment driven, which is a challenge in rural areas,” Heesch said. “You’re seeing declining enrollments, your revenues are either flat or decreasing based on those enrollments, while your expenditures, especially through an inflationary period, have increased dramatically.”

Enrollment is down. A bit. A little bit. But a 3.6% decline over a decade is very, very manageable. It is not a precipitous collapse. So let’s look at revenue and costs.

REVENUE:

Over the same 10 year period, from 2013 to 2023, Total comparative revenue is up 28.7% from $20,795,476 to $26,757,154. In per-student terms over the same period, revenue increased 34.5% from $14,114 per student to $18,977 per student.

In inflation adjusted dollars, $18,977 in 2023 was worth about $14,814 in 2013 dollars according to the CPI calculator from the federal BLS.

So, the conclusion is that revenue on both a total and on a per-student basis has kept up with inflation and then some. District revenue has exceeded the inflation rate by about 5%. That’s not an excessive amount, but it does show that the taxpayers have provided increasingly more funding to the Mauston School District in excess of the rate of inflation.

COSTS:

Enrollment is flat to a slight decline. Revenue is increasing in excess of inflation. So why is the school districts claiming a financial crisis that may require them to dissolve without even more money?

It’s the costs. It’s always the costs. Let’s take a look:

In the report titled “Audited Annual Report Comparative Cost” for Mauston in the longitudinal reports (it downloads as an excel sheet), we can see the spending for every line item over time. The thing to look for is which line items are increasing in excess to inflation or are new expenditures. Here are some key cost drivers (note that I am going to use per-pupil numbers to normalize the spending to enrollment):

  • Total Instructional Expenditures are up 22.4% from $6,983 per student to $8,544 per student. That’s not bad. It’s actually lower than the rate of inflation over the same period.
  • Operational/Administration/Other expenditures are up 51.1% from $2,793 to $4,220 over the 10-year period. That is double the rate of inflation.
  • That doesn’t tell the whole story of the cost of administration. Beginning in 2015, all Wisconsin districts broke out Administration costs into its own category (thank you, Republicans) so we can see them better, Between 2015 and 2023, just Administration expenses went up 37.5%. Over the same period, Operational expenses increased 47.5%. Both categories were increasing well in excess of the rate of inflation.
    • The big drivers in these categories were “Operation Administration,” “Other Support Services,” and “Purchased Instructional Services.”
  • Interestingly, between 2013 and 2023, transportation costs went up less than 1% – well below the rate of inflation. So the excuse that many rural districts use for spending is the cost of transportation in a geographically large, population sparse, district does not apply here.
  • Facilities costs went up 77% between 2013 and 2023 from $1,838 per student to $3,259 per student.

SUMMARY:

The story of the Mauston School District is similar to so many other school districts in Wisconsin. Student enrollment has been flat to declining, but their revenue has been increasing to match the rate of inflation and then some. The spending on direct student instruction – the money spent on actual teachers in the classrooms – has increased, but not as quickly as the rate of inflation. Meanwhile, spending on administration and facilities has far exceeded the rate of inflation – soaking up all of the additional revenue, and then some, and squeezing out spending on teachers.

The alleged financial struggles of the Mauston School District are entirely self-inflicted by wasteful spending on administration and facilities. Meanwhile, the students and the teachers are left wanting. The taxpayers are right to deny them more money through an operational referendum and the school board and administration are utterly incompetent and/or corrupt if they can’t manage the district’s finances any better than this.

West Bend = Madison

by | 2126, 6 Nov 24 | | 1 Comment

What do West Bend and Madison have in common? They both passed idiotic, wasteful school referendums that will strangle your taxpayers for decades to come. And neither referendum will result in a single kid getting a better education. But it’s not really about the kids, is it?

Waukesha County Charges Ahead with Implementing Sales Tax

by | 0747, 22 Oct 24 | | 5 Comments

They vote tonight. In an era where Waukesha residents are being hit from all sides with price increases, homes are unaffordable, and every taxing entity is reaching further into their pockets, let’s pry that the Waukesha County Board members find the strength to stand with the citizens who elected them. And no, the citizens don’t get a direct vote on this.

On Thursday, October 3, 2024 the County Executive introduced an ordinance to authorize a 0.5% county sales tax to be added to the existing state sales and use tax of 5%. The ordinance implements a sales tax beginning on July 1, 2025.

 

The plan is a compromise proposal to address our critical fiscal needs for nearly a decade. The specifics of the proposal are as follows:

  1. Up to 20% of sales tax collections (estimated $12 million if sales tax collections reach $60M) would go toward a direct reduction of property tax bills partially offsetting the impact of the sales tax on property owners. With the property tax cut in place the impact of the sales tax on a homeowner drops from about $12.00 per month to roughly $7.25 per month. The tax cut will appear on the December 2025 tax bills.

  2. Up to 20% of the sales tax collection beginning in January of 2027 (estimated to be about $12 million if sales tax collections reach $60M) would go toward local property tax reduction through monthly municipal aid payments. The level of aid will be determined based upon population of the municipality. Local aid levels would be revisited every two years in conjunction with the state budget cycle.

  3. The remaining 60% of sales tax dollars (roughly $36 million of an estimated sales tax collection of $60M) will be used to further reduce the County’s reliance on the property tax levy by eliminating our annual budget shortfall for at least the next 8 to 10 years and provide funds to the capital budget further reducing the County’s need to borrow funds.

Buc-ee’s in Wisconsin Hinges on Election

by | 0802, 18 Oct 24 | , | 2 Comments

I’ve been to Buc-ee’s many times. It’s a great place to get gas, a sandwich, a change of clothes, some jerky, and a deer stand. It’s fun. It’s not a place to necessarily get your morning coffee or just a quick fill up. There’s no doubt, however, that it’s a draw. Buc-ee’s are almost always busy. I prefer a Kwik Trip for everyday use.

This article is annoying because the reporter doesn’t actually do the work to put the various candidates on record on whether or not they would support Buc-ee’s or not. The article says that the future of Buc-ee’s in Wisconsin depends on the outcome, but doesn’t give voters any insight into which candidates favor it and which ones don’t. And I don’t think it’s necessarily a partisan issue. These issues normally come down to local preference and tolerance for corporate welfare.

As a result, the proposed Buc-ee’s plan includes a $15 million upgrade to the Interstate 39/90/94 interchange. Without it, the convenience store is likely to cause traffic to back up onto the interstate, he said.

 

Buc-ee’s plans to reimburse 47% of the cost of the interchange project, Chang said, leaving local officials to figure out the rest. In June, he told the Journal Sentinel that the village was brainstorming ways to foot the bill, such as a tax improvement district.

 

Now, Chang said the village is waiting to see who wins multiple local and state government seats in the Nov. 5 election: Dane County executive, State Assembly District 42 and State Senate District 14.

 

“We anticipate that we’ll need some political help with the interchange project …,” Chang said. “I hate to make it an issue about elections, but we really are just waiting to see who’s going to help us because we definitely can’t do it ourselves, and we know that the impacts are far-reaching.”

 

[…]

 

Buc-ee’s owns the DeForest land and plans to build a 74,000-square-foot store with 120 gas pumps and 20 electric vehicle charging stations. This rivals the brand’s biggest store, a 74,707-square-foot one in Sevierville, Tenn.

 

[…]

 

The entire Buc-ee’s project is estimated to cost $50 million, Chang said. The store is expected to bring in $25 million in gross taxable sales per year, including $1 million annually in sales tax revenue for the state. The store will create between 200 and 225 jobs, he said.

Arrowhead Asks for Fortune

by | 0736, 15 Oct 24 | , | 0 Comments

You would have to be near braindead to think that this is a good idea.

WAUKESHA — Voters in the Arrowhead Union High School District will be asked on the Nov. 5 ballot to approve two referendum questions seeking to fund a new high school and to cover operational expenses over the next four years.

 

The first question seeks for residents of the school district to authorize $1.9 million annually over the next four years, to be used to attract and retain staff, protect educational offerings, aid in maintenance, and keep up with inflationary cost increases, the district said on a website explaining the referendum. It would succeed a $1.7 annual operating referendum passed in 2019 and which expires this year, said Conrad Farner, district superintendent.

The second question asks voters to approve $261.2 million for a new high school on the current AHS site. Its aim is to bring Arrowhead High School, now split into two campuses, under one roof, with a new eight-lane pool to be made available for community use as well, a 1,000-seat auditorium also to be made available for public events, updated classroom technology, enhanced security, and more inside a building of about 555,000 square feet.

They want a QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS to replace a fully functional facility. Why? Because they want to. Zero students will get a better education for this expense.

 

West Bend Schools Asking Voters to Approve Idiotic Referendum

by | 2151, 13 Oct 24 | , | 0 Comments

This is probably the easiest decision on the ballot. The West Bend School District is facing a rapid and persistent DECLINE in enrollment and has done almost nothing to plan for it. You would be an imbecile to give them over $150 million to educate fewer kids with zero commitment to improve educational outcomes.

In West Bend, district residents will be asked to approve a $106.25 million facilities referendum to fund security improvements, critical capital maintenance improvements, improve operational efficiency, realign grade levels and replace Jackson Elementary School.

 

With interest included, at a rate of 4.75%, and annual fair market property growth, at 2%, the estimated total cost is $165.45 million. The current interest rate of 3.95% would place the total cost at about $13 million less, for an estimated $152.45 million.

 

The estimated tax impact would be an increase in the mill rate of $102 per $100,000 of assessed property value for approximately 20 years, if approved (based on a 20year repayment for Tax-Exempt General Obligation Bonds, a 2% annual fair market property value growth and approximately $59.2 million in estimated interest costs — the cost at a 4.75% interest rate.)

 

Included in the referendum plan is the closing of Decorah Elementary, Fair Park Elementary, the Rolfs Education Center and the Education Service Center (district central office), which will help the district avoid $51 million in capital maintenance costs, according to the WBSD.

 

The referendum question for WBSD residents on the Nov. 5 ballot reads: “Shall the West Bend Joint School District Number 1, Washington County, Wisconsin be authorized to issue pursuant to Chapter 67 of the Wisconsin Statutes, general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $106,250,000 for the public purpose of paying the cost of a district-wide school building and facility improvement project consisting of: construction of a new Jackson Elementary building on district-owned land; renovations and construction of additions, including for safe and secure entrances at East/West High Schools; renovations, including new safe and secure entrances and grade level reconfiguration at Green Tree and McLane Schools; renovations and grade level reconfiguration at Silverbrook and Badger Schools; districtwide capital maintenance and site improvements; and acquisition of furnishings, fixtures and equipment?’

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