Rising costs of building materials and labor costs for the building projects underway for county buildings and the cost of borrowing and what it means to the taxpayers were addressed by Kurt Berner, Vice President of the Samuels Group, and Jeff Belongia of Huntington Securities. On July 20th at the regular meeting of the board of supervisors at the Waushara County Courthouse, Wautoma, the board was informed by Berner of original budget for the projects and the current costs with contingencies.
Berner said the original budget for the Government Center was $40,000,000 and that is now up to $51,100,000; the Poy Sippi EMS budget was $1,600,000 and current budget is $2,350,000; increase in the other project buildings were up approximately 20 percent or more. The biggest change and concern to be addressed by the Waushara County Board in August is the proposed highway shop building that was budgeted at $16,000,000 and currently is estimated to cost $22,556,000.
During the meeting the board voted to approve the bids and recommendations for the Poy Sippi EMS/Senior Dining Center because it was one of the priorities in the master plan. After discussion and questions for Berner and Belongia the board voted to table the highway shop vote until the August meeting to give the board ample time to talk to their constituents. If the county approves the master plan with the current costs, it would mean an additional borrowing of $27 million. Berner did present a couple of options for the master plan for the board to consider. Also the TIF monies should assist the county.
The total budget for the projects when it was approved was $63,000,000. To date that total is $89,506,000. What does this mean for Waushara County taxpayers? Jeff Belongia, Huntington Securities, said it would be approximately $148 per $100,000 valuation for Waushara County Taxpayers. This would mean the additional borrowing of $27 million dollars would be an increase of $50 annually per $100,000 valuation as the current rate is $98 per $100,000. He added Waushara County has over $3 Billion in equalized valuation. This year they are looking at about a 5% increase in valuation, a 2% growth in the county.
Melissa Pingel, Waushara County Administrator, said she has been keeping up with meetings with buildings and grounds on the projects underway. She worked with departments to cut a half million dollars in furnishings for the Government Center. She is working with the department heads on the budget and said that the new Tyler system in the place and they are having some growing pains with it and have decided to bump the payroll to 2023.
She also said the jail is understaffed and needs to be addressed and keeping up with competition in the Public Health Dept. has been challenging. Work is underway to purge records and the Waushara County Historical Society has taken some records, others will be shredded and if still viable will be scanned.
District Attorney Matt Leusink gave his annual report and stated he had been DA in the county since Janurary of 2021. He said they are presently looking to hire an assistant DA. The DA’s office prosecutes all criminal offenses in Waushara County as well as some special prosecutions. He reported that 2021 was busier than 2020 and 2022 is on record to be up in cases from 2021. In 2021 the county had 10 jury trials and so far this year they have had 10.
Leusink said this year the cases filed include: 25 methamphetamine, 73 marijuana, and a very few cocaine, and there have been no heroin cases. They had 169 impaired driving cases in 2021 and to date they have 91.
Looking ahead Leusink sees the second judge taking office in August, and the building project.
In other business the board appointed Mike McLay, Coloma to the Human Services Board from July 19, 2022 to July 19, 2025.
The next Waushara County Board of Supervisors meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 16 in the Board Room #265 at the Waushara County Courthouse, Wautoma. Please enter through Door H.
