County moves ahead with NTC deal 
by Brian Wilson
The Star News
October 29, 2009 —  A Green Institute at Northcentral Technical College is a step closer to reality following approval in concept of a memorandum of understanding by supervisors at Wednesday’s county board session.
The vote on the NTC agreement came at the tail end of a three-hour long session which saw supervisors take up more than 29 items and approved the county’s 2010 budget and set the tax levy.
Lori Weyers, president of NTC presented the board with the updated proposal of what the college hoped to take place. The concept has not changed from one reviewed by a large portion of the board on September 18 and at this point Weyers and others from NTC downplayed the sketch and site plan, noting that it could and likely would change depending on if the grant was successful or the project proceeded.
NTC is seeking a federal grant for the project. Weyers said community partnerships such as the one used in Langlade County and here in Taylor County have been picked up as a national model for others seeking the grants. Under the agreement, the county would give the Ag building and the 9.25 acres of land to NTC as the county match and NTC would commit to up to $1.5 million in improvements to the campus here. The value of the building and land is estimated at close to $2 million.
With this commitment at the community and college level NTC is hoping to secure a matching federal grant up to $6 million. In response to questions from supervisors about what would happen if the grant was not approved or was approved for a lesser amount, she explained that the college would have to go back to the drawing board and determine what parts of the plan could be done. She said without the grant, the college would not have the resources to do the project on their own.
As part of the deal, NTC will include some remodelling costs of the former campus building into the grant application to help the county. The plan calls for the current occupants of the Ag Center to relocate to the building currently used by NTC. NTC has also agreed to take on the plowing costs of both parking lots.
According to Jeff Ludwig of the Taylor County Buildings and Grounds department, the long-term impact for the county will be positive if the grant is approved and the work is done. He said there would not be any new long term costs as a result of the agreement.
Supervisors focused their questions on what would happen if NTC and the county parted company at some point in the future. Weyers noted NTC has never backed out of serving Taylor County and offered to add language to the agreement to handle it if in 50 years that would occur.
Other supervisors questioned if NTC needed to own the land, and Weyers said for them to be eligible to receive grant money, the college must own the land and that anything short of long-term lease agreements would stop the grant process.
Supervisors approved the memorandum in concept with the NTC and the county’s attorneys will work out the final wording. One area not addressed at the meeting, but Weyers noted afterward was with the campus trail and the wooded area. The drawings call for clearing an area for a greens-keeping program, Weyers said the college wants to make sure the trail remains and has met with forestry and Department of Natural Resources personnel to review the wooded area and how it can be improved to allow for a healthy forest area for decades to come.
County budget
This year’s budget was hard, but next year’s may be even worse warned county accountant Larry Brandl. Supervisors approved a county budget calling for total spending of $23,989,662 with a final levy of $9,473,716.
What this means for taxpayers is that they will be paying more this year for the county portion of their property tax bill. The tax rate from the approved levy will be $7.30 per $1,000 of equalized value, an increase of 26 cents per $1,000 of equalized value from last year. As a result, the owner of a $100,000 home will pay $26 dollars more this year than last year a 4.9 percent increase. However, the final rate as it appears on the tax bills this December can vary based on changes in the assessed value of a property and the assessment ration for the local municipality.
While overall spending in the county dropped, the levy amount increased, largely due to the loss of revenues from the state and the income from housing Lincoln County inmates. Lincoln County completed construction of a new jail earlier this year which represented a hit to the budget of about $300,000. In addition to the increased levy, the county cut in virtually every service area and will have five furlough days in the coming year.
Brandl said a lot of the pain of future budgets depends on how well the local economy rebounds from the recession. However, he said he does not foresee the county being back to the levels of the mid-1990s or early 2000s any time soon.
While he commended the work done to balance the budget this year, supervisor Dennis Fuchs said he still felt there was room to cut in such areas as vehicle maintenance. Supervisors Doug Thums, Lester Lewis and Mary Bix voted against approving the budget.
In other business, supervisors:
´ Approved on a 14-2 vote changing the designation on environmental clean-up money from the sale of tax deed lands and applying $100,000 of it to the county budget. Supervisor Lester Lewis spoke against the plan noting the cost of cleaning up contaminated sites was not going to go down and he was doubtful of the availability of state and federal grant money being there in the future to assist with clean-ups. Doug Thums was the other dissenting vote. Lewis had also introduced a resolution to cap the amount of the clean-up fund at $250,000. Lewis’ proposal was soundly defeated by supervisors with Zenner stating he thought it was excessive to keep that much money tied up.
´ Referred a proposed change in the manure and nutrient management ordinance back to committee after supervisor Dave Bizer had extensive questions and concerns about the changes being proposed. Among the changes was the creation of $1 per animal unit fee, which Bizer noted would not scare away large farms with 1,000 or more animals, but which would have a large impact on smaller dairy farmers in a time when farmers are struggling. He also opposed doubling the amount of time the county personnel had to respond to a nutrient management plan application.
´ Approved giving a retroactive 1 percent pay increase to non-represented county employees for 2009. Lewis noted the idea was to make it equitable between the union and the non-union workers. Supervisor Mary Bix suggested rather than a pay rate increase, that workers receive a one-time pay out so that their base wage rate is not increased. Bix and Joe Sweda voted against the pay increase.
´ Approved changing the highway commissioner to an elected position with a term of 4 years. Previously the position had been an appointment by the board. In a related action, supervisors reelected current commissioner Jess Sackmann to the position for a term to expire on January 6, 2014.
´ Approved a one-year appointment of Scott Perrin as the county’s medical examiner. Previously the position has been a two-year appointment.
´ Approved renewing the contract with Steve Anderson as the county’s corporation council. He is paid $70,000 for legal services with no benefits. Some changes to the agreement also give greater power to committees to have him do additional work.
´ Approved county bridge aids for four culverts and three bridges totaling $53,706 which matches the town contribution.
´ Approved spending $11,000 of power line impact fee money to construct a sanitary dump station and holding tank system at the Jump River Campground. The Town of Jump River has invested more than $25,000 in upgrades to bring the campgrounds to county standards.
´ Approved hours and rules for the Pirus Road Gun Range. The gun range hours will be from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. April through September, and 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in October and November. Sunday hours are noon to 5 p.m. and the range is closed December through March and on Easter, Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Labor Day. Supervisors also gave the forestry committee the ability to adjust hours as needed to balance use and quiet times for nearby property owners.

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