Meeting

Issues of Local Control - Review of Act 12, June 20, 2023 - Community Conversations

Happy New Year! Our first Community Conversations of 2025 will address two issues we are grappling with here in Wisconsin, local control and Act 12, a law the Legislature adopted in 2023. We will meet from 12:30 to 2:30 pm on Saturday, Jan. 18 at Menomonie Public Library. 

In our last Community Conversations in Nov. 2024, our participants were interested in discussing the issue of “Local Control.”  Our local governments, cities, villages, townships, and counties, are where the citizens of our country have a voice in government.  We interface daily with local government related to the services that bring us water, sewage & garbage disposal, street maintenance, police & fire protection, and emergency medical assistance.  Other services that are important to us are our library services, the leisure center, community celebrations, parks and recreation.

Our state legislature often controls what ordinances can be passed by our local governments.  State government also affects funding.  It affects local budgets through levy limits and progressively decreasing “shared revenues” from our state income and sales taxes.

Act 12 of 2023, the new “shared revenue” bill, required a compromise between the Wisconsin legislature and the governor.  As this law was not part of the state budget, there was no line item veto for the governor.  Items in the legislation would have been vetoed by him if the items had been “stand alone” rather than packed into the shared revenue bill.  The governor wanted to give local governments funds from the 7 billion dollar budget surplus as municipalities have had to deal with severe restrictions of funding along with the effects of recent inflation.  

Join us, at our next Community Conversations at the Library, as we discuss Act 12, item by item.  I will be using the Act Memo from the Wisconsin Legislative Council:  https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023/related/lcactmemo/act012.pdf  (Paste this address into the address bar of your web browser to view the act memo.)  We will discuss the loss of advisory referendums, new restrictions on local health departments, and the specific prohibition of both discrimination or preferential treatment for persons in protected classes.  We will discuss tax incentive districts (TIDs) that have been used to help increase the tax levies by new construction and how these TIDs have been effected by Act 12. 

Our local state senator and assemblyman have been invited to this presentation.  As we will discuss the impact of shared revenue and the regulation of TIDs on Menomonie, the mayor of Menomonie has also been invited. 

Join us as we officially welcome Eye on Dunn to the Menomonie Area Chamber & Visitor Center family! Eye on Dunn, a new Chamber member, is dedicated to keeping our community informed with up-to-date, reliable, and engaging news coverage.

 Talk to the Eye On Dunn County staff about the state of news in Dunn County and what they can do to improve the news climate.

Come celebrate this exciting addition to our local media landscape with a ribbon-cutting ceremony! Meet the team behind Eye on Dunn, learn more about their mission to serve our community, and enjoy networking with fellow Chamber members.

Dunn County, Wisconsin, Nov. 21, 2024 — Community members are invited to attend a meeting in early December to discuss the results of the 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment and help plan next steps.

KT Gallagher, Director of the Dunn County Health Department, explained, "Every three years, we work with our partners to survey the community and find out what the biggest health issues are that need attention.

This year's results highlighted the following health priorities for Dunn County residents: access to childcare, water pollution and environmental concerns, access to healthcare, alcohol misuse, and access to safe and affordable housing. The full report can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/3vpjxwmf

To address these issues, the Health Department and Health Dunn Right, a community health coalition, will hold a kick-off meeting on from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, at the Rassbach Museum, 1820 John Russell Road, Menomonie. The meeting will discuss the report and plans for future action. To attend and get a free boxed lunch, please register by November 27 by filling out this online form.

Gallagher said the Health Department encourages everyone in Dunn County who cares about these issues to come to share their ideas.

"We need the community's help to come up with solutions that make sense for Dunn County," Gallagher said. "Your life experience may be exactly what we need to help solve these issues."

Guest speakers at the event include Steven McCarthy, Executive Director of the United Way St. Croix and Red Cedar Valleys, and Dr. Corrie Norrbom from the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service. Speakers will discuss the survey results, next steps, and how the community can work together to take action.

There will also be small discussion groups at the meeting to talk about the different health priorities, where participants can help set goals for action.

Regular Menomonie CIty Council Meeting

Regular city council meeting.