Boyceville Village Board discusses budget shortfall
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By Renee Bettendorf
BOYCEVILLE- At their meeting held last night the Boyceville Village Board heard from Village President, Luke Montgomery about how future development could ease budget shortfalls.
“We need to stimulate growth, otherwise we are looking at some really, really big cuts,” said Montgomery, of the budget.
An extension of Sykora Lane, which intersects with Anderson Hill Lane, would be one way to attain some growth in the village. According to Montgomery, installation of water, sewer, pavement, curbs and gutters would cost about $1.1 million. The village owns 17 lots in this undeveloped area and if they could sell each lot for $64,000 they could recoup the street construction costs.
The current budget shortfall, which is about $193,000, is due to lost tax revenue that occurred when TID 2 closed out, said Montgomery.
Tax Increment Districts (TID) have been around since 1975 and are areas in municipalities that are designated for potential development. Within TIDs, an economic development program called Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is used, according to the League of WI Municipalities web site.
In a TID, taxes that were paid to taxing entities before the district was created continue to be paid. Any extra tax money that is raised from the new higher assessed value can be used to pay off project costs associated with the district.
In past meetings the village board has discussed how revenue from TID 2 helped balance the budget and prevented the board from possibly holding a referendum. Montgomery said he would be meeting with Ehlers, the villages’ financial advisor about development and the budget soon.
2023 Police Department Review
Boyceville Police Chief, Greg Lamkin presented the board with a report of the activities of the police department over last year as a whole. In 2023 the department handled 1,640 total calls for service, a decrease from the previous year when 2,599 calls for service were handled.
Of those 1,640 calls, 124 were for traffic stops, 14 were for accidents, 105 were for ordinance complaints, 957 were for other calls for service and 440 were for business checks/area and vacation watches, according to Lamkin’s report.
The department issued a total of 163 citations, 112 of which were for traffic violations and 51 for non-traffic violations in 2023. The number of citations issued was up from 2022 when a total of 139 were issued.
Arrests were up from 2022 when the department made 62 arrests. In 2023 100 were made with 64 being adult arrests and 32 being juvenile.
Board Trustee, Megan Mittlestadt, wondered about the arrest numbers.
“Why so many arrests,” she asked Lamkin.
Lamkin said that any violation other than traffic counts as an arrest, even though in most cases a subject is not physically arrested.
“It seems scarier than it really is. It’s just terminology,” said Lamkin.
Lamkin also updated the board on police activities from the month of December. One significant case from last month involved a library patron who failed to return almost $200 worth of materials in over six months after receiving several notices. After sending a warning citation, which the subject failed to respond to, Lamkin charged the subject with an ordinance violation.
Other significant cases included three separate traffic stops where the subjects were all charged with operating without a license. Two of the subjects were charged with their second offense and one was charged with their third offense.
Garbage Disputes
Brittany Halvorson, Village Clerk/Treasurer, informed the board about two utility disputes that village residents recently submitted to her.
Both were related to the fee the village charges to residents for the Boyceville transfer station where residents can drop off their garbage and recyclables.
In one dispute a resident wanted his garbage fee waived because it was being charged for a lot that has no dwelling or other buildings on it. The board approved the waiver.
The board denied a second garbage fee waiver request from a resident who did not want to pay the fee because she doesn’t like going to the dump. The complaint stated that the resident had a private garbage service instead.
Village Trustee, Shawn Mittlestadt, pointed out that the resident should still be taking her recyclables to the transfer station because the private garbage service that does pick up in the village does not accept recyclables and it is illegal to not recycle in Dunn County.
Montgomery said he’s heard of people being caught not recycling and that some private garbage services have switched to clear garbage bags for that reason.
GaGa Ball Pit
Halvorson told the board that People’s State Bank employees held a fundraiser and would like to donate the money they raised towards a GaGa ball pit. Gaga ball is a form of dodgeball that takes place within an octagon shaped barrier. There is a gaga ball pit at the elementary school which is quite popular.
Village Trustee, Jo Dormanen, asked if there were any concerns about gaga ball players getting injured.
Shawn Mittlestadt, said he thinks a gaga ball pit at Andy Pafko Park would be a good idea and that playground equipment, like slides, are probably more dangerous.
After discussing several ideas on where to put a gaga ball pit, the board decided to send someone out to Pafko Park to investigate the best location.
In other business, the Boyceville Village Board:
-Learned from Airport Manager, Joel Timblin, that the fuel system at the airport, which has been inoperable for several weeks, should be up and running by the end of the month.
-Looked over two sign designs submitted by the school district for signage commemorating BHS athletic teams that have won state championships/titles.
