Committee votes to give support to Stepping Stones
Taylor County will look to help make up the loss of federal funding for Stepping Stones.
Members of the county’s finance committee on September 11 approved directing $2,000 of county funds to the nonprofit agency that provides support to community education and advocacy for victims of domestic violence.
Stepping Stones director Courtney Scholl and board president Taylor Reinhart came to the county asking for financial support after changes at the federal Victims of Crimes Act (VOCA) saw funding from that area drop from $300,000 to about $117,000 a year. VOCA funds are a money that comes from fines and penalties collected in federal criminal court cases, not taxpayer dollars.
“We have been affected by historic budget cuts,” Reinhart said.
This has impacted what Stepping Stones has been able to do in the community to prevent domestic violence and has also made it important for the agency to diversify its funding sources.
Historically, the county had supported Stepping Stones with a $2,000 allocation, but that had been discontinued years ago. Finance committee chairman Chuck Zenner said he remembered it being in the budget and that seeing it cut was one of the things he has regretted in his years of being on county board.
“This is a very important program,” Zenner said.
“I agree, what you provide is invaluable,” agreed committee member Mike Bub. However, he said there were other issues in the community, including the status of the food pantry that also needed to be addressed.
Administrative coordinator Nicole Hager, raised concern about the legality of simply giving county funds to a nonprofit. She said the Wisconsin County’s Association had a recent opinion letter on the topic and suggested that there needed to be a contractual arrangement where the agency provides services on behalf of the county.
Committee members voted to approve directing $2,000 to Stepping Stones pending Hager working out the legalities of doing so.
Powerline funding In a test of the committee’s commitment to follow new rules passed earlier this summer for the powerline impact fee grant funds, committee members voted to support award $10,000 to the Taylor County Sportsman Club to help support the creation of a new shooting range in the county forest.
The county has been working with Rib Lake Fish and Game and the Sportmans Club to develop a new shooting range on county-owned land in the forest that will include a 300-yard range which is not currently available on the county’s existing range on Pirus Ave. The new range will be located two to three miles from the nearest neighbors making concerns over noise minimal.
Rib Lake Fish and Game has pledged $10,500 to the project and the Sportmans Club has pledged $40,000 with the county having already supported the project through forestry department staff time. Organizers have applied for a $200,000 grant from Pittman-Robertson funds, which are from a federal tax on ammunition and are available for things like the development of shooting ranges.
The grant requires a 25% local match, and forest administrator Lucas Williams said that project is already past the amount needed for a local match. The Sportmans Club made a request for funding with Williams noting that it would be a good use of what the powerline money was intended for as a way to promote outdoor recreation.
The powerline grants are funded through money paid to the county by American Transmission Company for the Arrowhead to Weston 345kv transmission line that runs through a portion of western and southern Taylor County. With the revenues coming to replenish the fund being reduced each year, the county earlier this year set new rules capping the amount that can be awarded to any project in an effort to allow the fund to exist longer.
Bub said he would hate to see the county violate the new rules just months after setting them. However, Mildbrand made an argument based on the economic impact of shooting sports in the county and the contributions the Sportsmans Club has made for projects over the years.
Committee member Catherine Lemke said she would like to see more investment from the Rib Lake Community such as fundraising for it, noting that people in the Rib Lake area are the ones that requested it. She also noted that since it is in the county forest and will be maintained in the future by the forestry department staff, the county’s portion could come from the stumpage revenue that goes into the land purchase account.
Mildbrand said he felt it met the criteria of being a special project. Bub replied that every group coming in could make the same argument about their project being special. Zenner also noted that the county already has and maintains a shooting range.
In the end committee members voted to support giving the project a grant of $10,000, the maximum allowed under the new rules.
In other business, committee members received a report from finance director Tracy Hartwig about the need for the county board to have increased awareness of grant-funded purchases. Bub agreed, noting the number of computers that were purchased with American Rescue Plan Act grant funds, which are now reaching the end of their life, and that there is no money for them to be replaced. Hartwig suggested establishing a policy that a capital asset over $5,000 require committee approval before being purchased with grant funds. She said there needs to be better oversight of how grant funds are spent so that they do not end up costing the county in future years.
