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Local Leaders, Seeking Help With Essential Services, Try To Get Attention Of Legislature

Many Municipalities Are Struggling With Funding Basic Services

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Many local governments are struggling to fund things like road repairs. Photo: Chris UK (CC-BY-NC-SA).

Villages and cities across the state are organizing to get the attention of state legislators in order to help fund essential services.

It’s Jerry Deschane’s job as the new director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities to engage local politicians into the state legislative process, or he says the issues facing towns and cities will continue to go unheard in Madison.

“We won the prize of having the most hated tax out there — I mean, everyone hates the property tax, right?” said Deschane. “Guess what funds local government in Wisconsin? And you’re quickly coming to the point where it’s going to be hard to plow the streets and fill the potholes if you cannot raise the money to pay the people to do that work.”

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Deschane is rallying his 190 member cities and close to 400 villages to get involved.

Superior Mayor Bruce Hagen says local governments need to get the attention of legislators because in the past few years, he says, the state has tied their hands to charge fees.

“There seems to be punitive measures cast at municipalities rather than constructive measures with regard to not just local control, but also with the dialogue prior to legislation that may be passed wherein we would get our viewpoint across,” said Hagen.

Hagen and Deschane both say that local leaders can’t just gripe from afar; rather, leaders need to propose solutions to funding essential services.

“Don’t bring me a problem unless you want to participate in the solution,” said Hagen.

Hagen says there were 40 policy issues that directly affected local governments in the state budget passed this year.