DC Board sends funding plan for $3.27 million in capital improvements back to executive committee
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Board has sent the spending plan recommended by the executive committee for funding $3.27 million in capital improvements back to committee for further consideration.
At issue during the April 19 meeting of the Dunn County Board was whether an additional $800,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds should be put toward the capital improvements and whether the county should short-term borrow $532,000, which would add $18.91 to the county property taxes paid on a $150,000 property for one year.
The funding option recommended by the executive committee for the 2024 budget did not include any long-term borrowing.
The Dunn County Board has previously agreed to borrow up to $3 million per year to fund capital improvements if necessary.
The executive committee includes all of the chairs of the county board’s committees.
The amount of the capital improvements was reduced by $300,000 since the Dunn County Board’s special meeting March 25 on the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for 2024 to 2028, said Kristin Korpela, Dunn County manager.
The highway committee pulled the project for the planning and construction of the shop in Rock Falls, and the executive committee eliminated the demolition of some outbuildings and an old smokestack and instead decided to set aside $25,000 per year for the next five years, Korpela explained.
There were originally five funding options for the CIP, but the executive committee added four more options for a total of nine options, she said.
The option recommended by the executive committee would have set aside $800,000 of the remaining ARPA funds instead of spending all $1.5 million on capital improvements so the money would be available for a special project, such as something related to a recommendation from the housing study or hiring a grant writer for Dunn County, Korpela said.
The remaining ARPA money must be encumbered by the end of 2024 and must be spent by the end of 2026, she said.
Dunn County originally received $8.8 million in ARPA money, and about $7 million has been earmarked for the budget.
The ARPA money that has not yet been spent has been placed in a high-yield investment fund that has been earning $30,000 in interest per month.
Recommendation
The option recommended by the executive committee that was rejected by the county board used $405,000 from the fund balance; $770,000 in ARPA funds; $532,000 in short-term borrowing; $62,0000 from the Information Technology equipment replacement fund; $1.39 million from the highway department equipment placement fund; and $105,000 from fees to pay for the $3.26 million in capital improvement projects.
The $532,000 in short-term borrowing would be borrowed from a bank at the end of the year and paid back right away in January, Korpela said, and the county would collect the money for paying for the short-term borrowing through the property taxes collected during the year.
Short-term borrowing would be used for items such as sheriff’s department squad vehicle replacements. If long-term borrowing paid back over 10 to 20 years was used for squad vehicle replacements, and the squad vehicles are typically replaced every five years, the vehicles would be long gone from Dunn County service before they are paid for, Korpela said.
The recommendation from the county’s auditors based on governmental accounting principles is that the county keeps 25 to 33 percent of general fund expenditures in the fund balance.
Dunn County currently has 60 percent of the general fund expenditures in the fund balance.
ARPA
The first round of federal ARPA money, intended as federal stimulus money to aid public health and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, was distributed to states, counties, cities, villages and towns in 2021.
The second round of ARPA funds was distributed in 2022.
What is APPA money — is it a grant? asked Korlee Witzel, county board supervisor from Menomonie.
ARPA funds are federal dollars distributed because of COVID-19, Korpela said.
Does the ARPA money have to be paid back? Witzel wondered.
No, Dunn County will not owe the money back, Korpela said.
Robert Bauer, county board supervisor from Mondovi, asked about efforts to claw back ARPA money.
The measure is currently before the U.S. House of Representatives but would be unlikely to be approved by the U.S. Senate, said Kelly McCullough, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the Dunn County Board.
It is a senate amendment proposed by Senator Rick Scott that is attached to a bill to claw back ARPA funds, said Jim Zons, county board supervisor from Colfax.
Senator Scott has sent several letters to government officials asking them not to spend the ARPA money and to return it to the federal government and has also asked government officials to return unused ARPA money.
Presumably, ARPA money that is not encumbered by the deadline of December 31, 2024, would have to be returned to the federal government.
Michael Rogers, county board supervisor from Menomonie, said he would not support the resolution for funding capital improvements because the ARPA money should be spent now. The county can always set money aside later and should not do long-term borrowing now.
There is no long-term borrowing in the resolution, McCullough said.
Why not?
Is there any reason the $800,000 cannot be used this year, since the county has the money now, and then the county can short-term borrow next year? asked Brian Johnson, county board supervisor from Colfax.
The ARPA money is one-time federal dollars that can be used on issues critical to the county, said Diane Morehouse, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the health and human services board.
The housing study is not finished yet, but it will represent a possibility of doing something significant about homelessness and housing shortages, she said.
The housing study is under the supervision of the health and human services board.
It will be an issue of economic development if Dunn County is losing employers because they cannot hire the employees they need because there is no place for their employees to live, Morehouse said.
Employers who are paying $35 to $40 per hour have said they would like to hire a second shift of 30 or 40 workers but cannot hire additional people because there is nowhere for those employees to live in Dunn County, said Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing.
Whether it is spent on housing or some other important issue, the one-time ARPA dollars should be used to make a difference in the county, Morehouse said.
Gary Stene, county board supervisor from Colfax, said he was in support of using the $800,000 for a one-time special project.
“If we think we are going to get (another) $800,000 down the road, we ain’t gonna get it. It just won’t happen,” he said.
Housing
Would the ARPA money be used to pay for the housing study or to pay for housing? asked Larry Bjork, county board supervisor from Menomonie.
The money is not earmarked for anything yet. It was only one suggestion to address housing needs. The housing study is already paid for, McCullough said.
The housing study will identify needs for workforce housing, for low-income housing and housing for the elderly and the disabled, he said.
The housing study was primarily funded with grant money and very little money from Dunn County.
Larry Bjork said he would be opposed to spending the ARPA money on housing.
The county should spend the money on county Highway B rather than spend money on low-income or disabled housing, he said.
In the past Dustin Binder, Dunn County highway commissioner, has said that county Highway B out to BB will be paved within the next year or two but that there are no plans to pave the rest of Highway B to state Highway 40, or at least, that section of B is not in the county’s five-year road improvement plan.
Larry Bjork did not specify which section of Highway B he was referring to, but the section between the railroad tracks and BB would seem likely.
Reconstruction of county Highway B from Highway 12/29 to just north of the railroad tracks is already in the works for 2024.
No debate
How the ARPA money will be spent is not subject for debate at this meeting. There have only been suggestions on how it could be spent, and it has been suggested it could be spent for a one-time project, but the issue will have to go before the Dunn County Board before the ARPA money is actually spent, McCullough said.
The Dunn County Board might decide to spend the money on pavement, or it might be used for housing or broadband or for some other project, he said.
The county has spent $7 million of the ARPA money to “keep the county afloat,” but it has been piecemeal and difficult to see where the money has gone, said Michael Kneer, county board supervisor from Menomonie.
The $800,000 would be an opportunity to use the money for a lasting, long-term effect on the county, whether for housing or economic development or something else, he said.
It is a “one time shot” to use the money for something that will last for 10 or 15 years or longer, Kneer said.
Don Kuether, county board supervisor from Menomonie, said he agreed that the money should be used for a long-term investment that will benefit the county long-term.
Luke Wilsey, county board supervisor from Boyceville, said he was not in favor of borrowing money because he is a property manager in Menomonie, and that if the county borrows money, landlords like to make a profit and will raise the rent.
The $18.91 for one year on a $150,000 property for the $320,000 in short-term borrowing that was part of the option recommended by the executive committee would amount to $1.58 per month.
Rejected
The resolution to approve the option recommended by the executive committee to fund the capital improvement plan for 2024 requires a simple majority, and if the resolution fails, it will go back to the executive committee for further consideration, McCullough said.
On a roll-call vote, the resolution failed on a vote of 12 “yes” to 15 “no” with two supervisors absent from the meeting.
The resolution will go back to the executive committee for further consideration at the May meeting.
Voting in favor of the executive committee’s recommendation were county board supervisors Tom Quinn (Downing), Ann Vogl (Menomonie), John Calabrese (Menomonie), Hilary Robinson (Menomonie), Jim Zons (Colfax), Carl Vandermeulen (Menomonie), Gary Stene (Colfax), Diane Morehouse (Menomonie), Kelly McCullough (Menomonie), Mike Kneer (Menomonie), Monica Barrier (Menomonie), Donald Kuether (Menomonie).
Voting against the recommendation from the executive committee were county board supervisors Gary Bjork (Colfax), Luke Wilsey (Boyceville), Korlee Witzel (Menomonie), Ronald Score (Boyceville), Tom Gilbert (Elk Mound), Robert Bauer (Mondovi), Michael Rogers (Menomonie), Vaughn Hedlund (Boyceville), Larry Bjork (Menomonie), Sean Breslin (Menomonie), Randy Prochnow (Menomonie), Brian Johnson (Colfax), Patrick Breslin (Boyceville), Mark Thomas (Menomonie).
Absent from the meeting were county board supervisors Andrew Hagen (Menomonie) and Tim Lienau (Menomonie).
