Here & Now

What the Shared Revenue Battle Means for Brodhead's Budget

Frederica Freyberg:

Again the Assembly bill bumps up the minimum increase in shared revenue for counties and small cities to 15%. “Here & Now” senior political reporter Zac Schultz takes us to the city of Brodhead in Green County. And tell us even 15% doesn’t solve all of their revenue problems.

Edward Casey Jones:

Government is just slow.

Zac Schultz:

Edward Casey Jones wanted to be the mayor of Brodhead since he first ran at age 18.

Edward Casey Jones:

My campaign was to drive around the streets of Brodhead, honking the horn. Vote for Casey.

Zac Schultz:

He lost that race and then spent most of his adult life living out of state. So when he moved back and won his race for mayor in 2022, he had a plan.

Edward Casey Jones:

I figured I could run it like my businesses. I have several businesses I run. So I figured I could run it like that. However, it’s not even close. It’s very slow.

Zac Schultz:

The first thing he ran into was a city budget that had been starved of an increase in shared revenue for a decade.

Edward Casey Jones:

There is not a lot of other things to cut anymore.

Zac Schultz:

Then the Brodhead Fire District, serving the city and several rural townships, decided to move from volunteers to full time staff. The city’s portion of the increase was more than $300,000 a year.

Edward Casey Jones:

Last year, if we wanted to have a balanced budget, we were going to have to cut about $330,000, 10% of the budget.

Zac Schultz:

Instead, Mayor Jones sent a disillusion letter to the Brodhead Fire District starting the process of breaking up the fire department. He says it wasn’t just a negotiating tactic.

Edward Casey Jones:

Anything you do where you’re cracking eggs and you’re busting — changing stuff, you have to have a backup plan. We did have a backup plan and it would have been a very viable backup plan. However, our first thing was to sit down and say, how do we fix what we have?

Zac Schultz:

The city and rural halves of the fire district were able to negotiate a deal that kept the volunteers. But it was a one-year fix while the city of Brodhead went to referendum in April to ask the voters for an extra $400,000 a year.

Edward Casey Jones:

We were going to give the people a choice. They can vote on it. If they vote no, then the next year, we have to cut social programs. Then we lost the referendum.

Man:

It’s great to be here in Wisconsin Dells today.

Zac Schultz:

Jones knew the stakes for his city when he traveled to Wisconsin Dells and waited six hours to get his two minutes to speak before the Joint Finance Committee.

Edward Casey Jones:

I am Mayor Casey Jones from city of Brodhead, the middle of everywhere. Kinda wonder why I don’t have my suit on. I retired 20 years ago and that was the last time I wore a suit and it didn’t fit.

Zac Schultz:

Jones explained without an increase in shared revenue, he would have to close to pool for the summer.

Edward Casey Jones:

It’s my hometown. We had a pool. We had parks and rec. We had all those things and it looks like my hometown is no longer going to have them. So that’s how dire it is.

Zac Schultz:

The pool costs about $80,000 a year. The most recent version of the Republican plan will give Brodhead an extra $109,000 a year.

Edward Casey Jones:

I think at the very least, we can delay some of the things for a while, down the road.

Zac Schultz:

So while the pool will stay open this summer. Jones knows this isn’t a permanent fix.

Edward Casey Jones:

But it’s a start and that’s — you gotta take little victories.

Zac Schultz:

Reporting from Brodhead, I’m Zac Schultz for “Here & How.”