West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission

I attended the May 13th meeting of the West Central Wisconsin Regional
Planning Commission and here are the highlights.

Levy:
5 options were presented -- amount changes were: -2.12% (same mill
rate as 2010), 0% (same amount as 2010), -2.5%, -5%, and 2.3%
(inflation).
Jay Tappen (new director) mentioned that the levy can't be reduced too
much because there are minimum matches that have to be made -- the
total of those minimum matches is about $84,000 so the most the levy
amount could be decreased is 62%.
The -2.12% option was moved. Much discussion about economic condition
and need for cuts. The only discussion in favor of another options
was in favor of the -5% option. The levy hasn't been increased since
2006. -2.12% option was passed overwhelmingly (maybe unanimously).
That options means a -5.5% decrease for St. Croix County because our
real estate valuation went down the most.

Current officers were reappointed.

Regional Comprehensive Plan public hearing July 6th.
http://www.wcwrpc.org/RPCCompPlan/

Updates from the representative from the governors office:
SAGE program limits class size to 18.
BadgerCare covers every child under 18
BadgerCore will cover low-income, childless adults
Basic: for people who didn't make it into the Core program
98% are now offered medical coverage

The USDA has funds for libraries, rural development, etc.

A few of the members expressed grave concern about national debt and
the nation we are leaving to our grandchildren and ask Ron Kind
representative to bring those complains back to him.