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Long-time State Senator Roger Breske was appointed Monday, May 19, 2008 by Governor Doyle as the new Wisconsin Railroad Commissioner, replacing Rodney Kreunen in the position. Read more here. |
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Sadly, Kewaunee County Supervisor Nancy Lazansky passed away Thursday, May 15, 2008, after a battle with cancer. She will be missed by those in the county family. |
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Wisconsin has 71 public transit systems including 28 urban and rural bus systems and 43 shared-ride taxi systems, providing approximately 73 million rides each year. |
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 The 2008 state budget adjustment bill has now been signed into law. When it became apparent in February and March 2008 that the current state budget would be out of balance, Governor Doyle convened a special session of the Legislature in March to address the budget. The Governor's proposal to address the issues failed to pass the Legislature, and negotiations began between the two legislative houses.
On Monday, May 12 a press conference was called to announce legislative agreement on a package of budget adjustment items. The package passed the Senate on Tuesday, May 13 and the Assembly on Wednesday, May 14. Gov. Doyle signed the package into law on Friday, May 16, making several partial vetoes of the bill as he did so. (Note: See WCA media release below on veto action)
Key items in the package included: |
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With Governor Doyle announcing his budget adjustment bill vetoes last week, several which impact counties, the Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA) wants to work with state officials to look ahead and engage in a much larger discussion about the economic future of Wisconsin.
Vetoes announced included the removal of a property tax exemption on low income housing.
"We don't believe a particular property tax exemption, meritorious or not, should be the issue being discussed today," said WCA Executive Director Mark D. O'Connell. "Instead of looking at one specific exemption that was placed into a budget adjustment bill, we should be having a much larger and separate conversation on the overall tax structure of Wisconsin and how this will position our state in the future."
Read on for the full WCA media release. Full Story... |
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At the WCA Board of Directors meeting on Friday, May 16, 2008, Marathon County Board Chair Keith Langenhahn was elected WCA Secretary/Treasurer, as well as the Wisconsin Representative to the NACo Board of Directors.
In addition, Waukesha County Board Chairman James Dwyer was appointed as the WCA Immediate Past President. |
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The Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation is sponsoring the Milwaukee County Highway Safety ROADeo this week in Milwaukee, bringing together Milwaukee Department of Transportation and Public Works employees for a day of education and enrichment.
Watch a clip from Fox 6 in Milwaukee, featuring Aegis Corporation's Vice President of Risk Management Vance Forrest, here. |
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 It is Wisconsin Transit Week here in our state.
Governor Doyle declared the week of May 19-25, 2008 as a time to focus attention on the vital role of transit in Wisconsin. With soaring gas prices, check out transit options in your city. Learn more here. |
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 The WCA Group Health Trust has announced a new scholarship program for technical and four-year college students whose parent, spouse or guardian is an employee of a WCA Group Health Trust member.
Learn more on how to apply here. |
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The Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation is once again taking applications for its scholarship program. Applicants must enroll in a full-time undergraduate course of study at an accredited two-or-four -year Wisconsin college no later than the fall term of the application year.
The applicant's parent, grandparent or guardian must be a county supervisor or employee of a County Mutual member county.
To learn more about the County Mutual Scholarship Program, click here. |
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 By David Mockert, Director of State and Local Practice, GeoAnalytics, Inc.
For many years, counties throughout the state have invested significant resources into Geographic Information System (GIS) technology through the Wisconsin Land Information Program (WLIP). To leverage these investments and improve communication between GIS stakeholders associated with government, private industry, higher education, and non-profit organizations, an effort is underway to develop a new coordination body called the Wisconsin Geographic Information Coordination Council (WIGICC).
The initiative to create the Council originates from a statewide GIS strategic plan developed through the Wisconsin Land Information Association (WLIA) in 2007. That plan identifies the need for improved coordination as the number one GIS issue to address in our state.
Recently, the WIGICC implementation team has turned their attention to finding members to serve on the soon-to-be chartered Council. The Wisconsin Counties Association has agreed to solicit nominations for two county representatives to serve two-year terms on the council. Nominations should be sent to John Reinemann by May 30, 2008. Full Story... |
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Racine County Executive Bill McReynolds has announced that the Racine County Office of Child Support Enforcement has been awarded the State of Wisconsin's Certificate of Outstanding Achievement for the federal fiscal year 2007. The award is given to counties that achieve their target statistical goals in four areas - Paternity Establishment, Court Order Establishment, Collections on Arrears Cases, and Collections on Current Support.
The state sets the county's goals. If all statistical goals are achieved, the child support program receives more in federal funds and, therefore, can provide quality services to county families at less cost to property taxpayers.
Racine County Child Support is one of only 11 county child support agencies in the state to receive this recognition for having the highest level of performance. No other large county in the state, and no other Southeastern Wisconsin county of any size, received the award. Full Story... |
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Mark your calendars for July 24 and 25, 2008 to attend "Clean Water: From Politics to Policy" The event will be held at the Manitowoc Holiday Inn and is for policy makers and technical staff who want to listen, learn and act. It will ask the critical questions: "Are the rules relating to stormwater the best or only alternative? Will we have clean water as a result?" The event is put on by 1,000 Friends of Wisconsin and is co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and other groups.
For more information on conference details, accomodations and registration, click here. |
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Residents of Waukesha and Winnebago counties are participating in a pilot drug mail-back program, to safely dispose of unused prescription drugs. The free program is designed to keep prescription drugs out of landfills or from being flushed down the toilet, both of which can pollute the water supply.
The program will be available to about 500,000 residents in the two counties, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. They will be able to mail their unused prescriptions free to a Milwaukee company that safely disposes of pharmaceuticals.
"Residents of Waukesha and Winnebago counties do not have to pay a thing,"said Mary Hendrickson of Capital Returns Inc., the disposal firm. "We'll send them what they need to get (unused drugs) to us." Source: NACo County News. |
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