Referendum meant to help with street project catch-up
Community member Mary Jo Bowe asked why the referendum put on the ballot for Village of Cadott residents to consider during the April 4 election, does not have a sunset date, during an informational meeting March 7. Cadott Village Board president Anson Albarado (not pictured) explained they are doing the best they can with what they have and in order to do more street projects than what they are, they need to ask taxpayers for help. He says he hopes they will be able to sunset the extra levy, after the village catches up on projects. Photo by Julia Wolf
By Julia Wolf
The Cadott Village Board hosted an informational meeting March 7, to provide time for members of the public to ask questions and get answers from the board.
The referendum question on the April 4, ballot seeks to increase the levy by $125,000, each fiscal year, going forward, to help fund street maintenance projects. The estimated tax impact for a $100,000 property in the village, is $147, per year.
Mary Jo Bowe, community member, asked why the referendum does not have a sunset date.
“We had debated on how long we should do it, or whether we should do it, kind of, in a way that had a sunset,” said board president Anson Albarado.
He says his hope, is that once the village catches up on street projects, they will be able to end the extra levy.
Albarado says all the years he’s been on the board, they operated within the revenue limit and were always short funds to do any street work.
“The only street work we did, is when we applied for a grant,” said Albarado.
He says, even when they did get a grant, the village was still responsible for a percentage of the project costs. Albarado told Bowe that they applied for three different grants this past year, and only received one of them, after a different municipality decided to decline acceptance of the monies.
“We were hoping that we could do some other ones that are in dire straits and need to be fixed,” said Albarado.
The village currently plans to complete the Brown Street and State Hwy. 27 projects in 2023, and County Hwy. X and Tower Drive/Dina Court/Lavorata Road projects in 2025. Other streets the village would like to be able to fix, but do not have scheduled, are 80th Avenue, 250th Street, North Maple Street and Yellow Street.
Albarado says the village has the capacity to borrow to do the projects scheduled, but if they keep doing that, will fall farther and farther behind on the other roads that need to be fixed.
“If you look at all the projects coming up, $125,000 really doesn’t do a lot,” said Albarado, adding that his hope is the money will help them do more projects than they normally would do.
Albarado says they also looked at different referendum amounts, but decided any larger of a referendum would be too big of a burden for residents.
“The bottom line here from the village’s standpoint, we’ve tried to be frugal with what we have,” said Albarado. “It’s just caught up to us to the point where, if we’re going to do something, we need the residents, the people in Cadott, to help out.”
Another public information hearing on the referendum is scheduled for Monday, March 27, at 6 p.m., at the village hall.
