Quick Links
La Crosse County Site
Monthly Board Report
Board Agendas/Minutes
Board of Supervisors
Sustainability Site
|
Welcome To the Latest Issue of eNews!
January 21, 2010 vol 1 issue 1 Welcome to the first edition of La Crosse County’s eNews. Our purpose is to keep the people of La Crosse County better informed about your County government. County government has not always been as visible as some other levels of government. We hope to change that by providing eNews you can use like upcoming dates for public hearings, health clinics and reminders about deadlines for dog licenses and ordinance changes. We’ll provide detailed information about our budget, highlights of innovations and achievements and updates about critical issues facing the County, like how certain actions of the State & Federal governments will affect County services and County property taxpayers. We also want the people of our County to have a chance to learn more about the inner workings of County government by providing access to the Monthly Report to the County Board. These reports keep County Supervisors informed of the most current work of County Departments. On an alternating basis, roughly half the departments report each month on the most compelling statistics, activities and challenges confronting our staff working to provide the best in public service. Link to Monthly Reports. We hope you find La Crosse County eNews helpful and informative. If you have any suggestions how to make it better, please let us know using our email links at the bottom. eNews You Can Use!
H1N1 and Seasonal Influenza Clinics La Crosse County Public Health Nursing will be offering H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccination to the community on:
County Taxes Still Among the Lowest
La Crosse County property taxes are still among the lowest in the State for the COUNTY portion of your property tax bill. Even though total property taxes are too high, the county share of your bill is much lower than it would be if you were in nearly any other Wisconsin County. So what does a low ranking mean to the average county taxpayer? Pull out your tax bill and look at the line for county taxes, then increase that number by 42 percent. That’s right, La Crosse County taxes would have to be increased by 42 percent ($11.9 million per year) to equal the average tax levy of the eight Wisconsin counties closest to us in population. And the latest per capita ranking shows that La Crosse County ranks as the 5th lowest Total Tax Levy out of all 72 Wisconsin Counties. Our conservative approach to spending means more money in your pocket. While the 2010 budget has been the most difficult we’ve adopted in years, we continue to work hard to restrain the growth of the County share of the property tax bill through collaboration, innovation and teamwork. The 2010 budget increase of 2.6% was the lowest change in the past ten years. This was managed even in the face of scheduled debt payments for the new Law Enforcement Center addition, rising costs to fulfill labor commitments made before the recession and continued unfunded or inadequately funded mandates from the State for the State court system and the required provision of Human Services. A recent example of such cost-shifting by the State was the change in Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) laws. While State officials pat themselves on the back about getting tough on drunk drivers, the State keeps nearly all the money from the increased fines (93.87%). While we support the goal of reducing drunk driving, Counties alone bear the costs of increased court operations, more county jail beds, expanded offender supervision, and monitoring of ignition interlock devices. This potential budget-buster is a major concern to counties around the state. Saving money has not meant ignoring the critical issues we face, nor will it encourage complacency toward pursuing continuous improvement and tackling of the toughest issues. We achieved broad consensus on a long-term solution for the law enforcement center and jail with a unanimous vote of the County Board. Now we are meeting the challenge of serving the health care needs of our elderly and most challenged citizens. We have created Wisconsin’s first-ever multi-county nursing home collaboration for the operation of the Lakeview Health Care Center, an innovation that is likely to save La Crosse County $750,000 per year. Most recently, we’ve moved toward adopting better solutions to meet the challenges posed by chemical abuse and mental health crisis intervention. The Crisis Center we are establishing will better serve those in need, but at a cost substantially lower than a jail bed or the hospital psychiatric unit. Over the past few years, improved budget management has boosted our financial status. Independent recognition of our fiscal strength was provided when Moody’s rating service upgraded the County bond rating to Aa2 in 2005 and renewed the Aa2 rating this past year. This confirms that our conservative approach makes La Crosse County one of the safest municipal bond investments in the state, saving on the cost of county borrowing when needed. La Crosse County strives to provide the best in public service. Our success is a testament to the dedication, goal-setting and policy direction of the County Board combined with the creativity, innovation and hard work of our administration and employees throughout the organization. As the Chair of the County Board, I am proud to be responsible for leading a county organization that is among the most cost-effective in the state. To examine the data referenced in this article, including a 2009 Highlight of Recent La Crosse County Achievements, go to the county administrator’s page: 2010 Budget, at the La Crosse County Web site: www.co.la-crosse.wi.us. And, as always, we welcome your thoughts on how to better serve the people of La Crosse County.
|
