Koshkonong supervisors shelve town wheel tax idea

“We are going so far backward, there’s just no way,” Burlingame said about keeping up with the current needs on town roads. “You just can’t keep up.”

The wheel tax was one of a few options being weighed Wednesday night. Burlingame proposed two others — either borrow money for roadwork, to the tune of approximately $50,000 a year, or draw money from one of the certificates of deposit the town has.

Burlingame explained that one of the comments from Johnson Block — which has just concluded a financial review for Koshkonong — was that town was responsible for keeping three months of operating expenses on hand. With that one hand, the town does have surplus money in the CDs that could potentially be used.

The other option, borrowing money for roadwork, had both positives and negatives. While Burlingame said he had talked to PremierBank and was told Koshkonong’s credit was good enough to virtually guarantee the loan, town residents had indicated through a survey that they didn’t support borrowing money for roadwork. However, residents also have indicated they would not support a wheel tax, either.

The town was told interest rates for a loan would be between 2.9 percent and 3.8 percent, which Burlingame said he figured would result in a property tax hike of $30 per $100,000 assessed value if the town borrowed $100,000 over two years.

In discussing the wheel tax, the town board members, as well as two audience members who offered comments, hit on both the pros and the cons. While the town would, potentially, get $48,863 in revenue from registered vehicles eligible for the wheel tax, a large portion of the traffic on town roads comes from vehicles that the town cannot tax, like farm vehicles, heavy trucks and the like.

Town Supervisor Stacy Kutz also pointed out that many residents simply list Fort Atkinson as their place of residence when purchasing a vehicle. Without an accurate listing, the town can’t collect a wheel tax on that purchase.

Regardless of the pros and the cons, Koshkonong resident Jae Ames said that he felt residents had been hit enough tax-wise.

“A town is not a city,” Ames said, adding that a wheel tax didn’t take into account damage done to the roads by people who didn’t live in the town.

Fellow resident Greg Wellach added that while a wheel tax wasn’t perfect, it was an option when the town had relatively few of those available.

“It comes down to what benefits the town, and what benefits the town the best,” Wellach said.

After the discussion, the board unanimously voted down the idea of a wheel tax, and decided to look into what options exist with taking value from one of the town’s CDs.

In other items on the agenda Wednesday night:

• The board of supervisors accepted the final report from Johnson Block as to financial recommendations for the town.

The report, which was commissioned by the town after Johnson Block helped the town reconcile its books earlier in the year, made recommendations for items like developing a protocol for fund balance and financial policy and procedures, but did not recommend an audit, a hot-button topic during the summer due to concerns about the town’s bookkeeping methods.

As a result of Johnson Block’s work with the town, the officials said its books are now working within QuickBooks, and the town has hired a payroll firm, as well.

• A new contract with Dwayne Bickle to provide dog service was unanimously approved. The cost increased from $1,750 to $2,000 for 2019, with $1,000 payable in March and $1,000 in October.

• The board unanimously approved its 2019 budget of $1,021,640, as previously discussed at a public hearing in November.

• The board also approved participating in the Jefferson County Clean Sweep program for 2019.

• After a delay of several months, the developer’s agreement and final plat for the Koshkonong Lake Estates subdivision was approved, with the note that a commencement plan must be submitted to the town before any ground disturbance happens.