By Susan Steele
Correspondent
The Village of Williams Bay is the latest municipality to ask its registered voters to increase police department funding through the passage of a referendum to exceed a state levy limit.
On Jan. 17, village trustees passed a resolution to exceed the state levy limit of .602% to 10.085% at a special meeting.
“The State Department of Revenue,” explains Village Administrator David Lothspeich, “requires the use of Net New Growth current budget year 2025 for the budget year 2026. The Net New Growth used for the Referendum is 0.602%.”
The Village’s present levy mil rate is $3.43 per $1,000 assessed value. The amount has actually dropped over the last several years, from a high of $3.60 per $1,000 in 2019 and 2021 to $3.46 in 2022, $3.44 in 2023 and then the current rate.
If the resolution passes, the cost to property owners, states Lothspeich, will be an additional 25.1 cents per $1,000 of assessed value creating an additional $399,980 in revenues set aside for this purpose.
Police Chief Timm stated that hiring two additional police officers was necessary to ensure the Village was covered 24/7. Village Staff itemized the associated cost before stating it totaled $143,533.81 annually.
Using that amount as a base point, “staff projects property value of $1,596,387,500. A total of both to effect Referendum $285,6556.08 and with a 40% increase due to the longevity need for a funding request of $399,980.00.”
The need for the two additional police officers was indicated in a 2019 department study. In that study it showed the department used a 5/2-5/2-5/3 schedule for its officers.
This rotation had officers off three days in a row, with days off changing after each rotation and each employee working 248.86 days a year. This type of scheduling left 503.17 open hours “because each employee,” stated the study, “is available to work their scheduled hours only 75% of the time.””
This rotation type summarized the study was “advantageous for police officers as it enables a better work/life balance with management reaping the operational and financial benefit.”
Lothspeich states all trustees voted to approve the resolution and President Duncan absent.
