By Keene Winters

I think most of us aspire to do good, including members of the Wausau City Council. We promise an upstanding reputation. But, good wishes are not enough. It takes action. And, right now, all we are getting is that confused, deer-in-the-headlights look from our council representatives.

A week ago, the Wausau Pilot and Review (WP&R) published an exposé on the chronic under-funding of the city’s vehicle fleet and the increasing use of debt to cover operating deficits. At the heart of the article was a city-funded consultant’s study of the Motor Pool Division by Mercury Associates from April of 2021. This has been a ticking time-bomb in city finance ever since.

In the week since the article, guess how many members of the city council have requested a copy and read the 97-page Mercury Associates report? My guess would be zero. If there is an exception out there, please let us know, and I will stand corrected.

Why has the Chair of the Finance Committee not called a meeting to discuss this matter? Why has there been no Committee of the Whole called by the Council President to determine what impact this has on current and future budgets?

I have been told that there are members of the council who feel “in the dark” about the current city budget proposal because they are not on the Finance Committee and they do not have a copy of the budget. Yet, the budget document has been on-line since the beginning of the month. How passive and inquisitive does a person have to be to not download the document themselves and start reading?

Think about this. If the city’s Motor Pool only charges the Fire Department between one-half and two-third of the cost of its vehicles, how can the Fire Department come-up with appropriate charges for the ambulance runs we do for other communities? Why are Wausau’s citizens taking on debt to subsidize the emergency medical services of neighboring municipalities? All of the Fire Department’s contracts with outside entities should be reviewed immediately to make sure we are recovering the actual costs of the services we provide.

In the WP&R article, Council President Lisa Rasmussen offered this Zen-like gem of wisdom. We cannot bill departments the full cost of the rolling stock they use because the city does not have enough room under the levy limits. So, we borrow money to fill in the gap—problem solved. Simple, right?

But, where are we going to get the levy dollars to pay the debt? The answer is that the city will get them from you, using the debt service exemption to raise the mill rate higher than the levy limit.

So, if citizens approve a referendum to raise their own taxes to pay for a 20% increase in Fire Department staff, what do you think the next “ask” will be. Of course, it will be a referendum for the Motor Pool. In some version of a “Tunnels to Towers” commercial produced by a slick consulting firm at taxpayer expense, we will be told we do not have enough vehicles for our poor first responders and the ones they have are way too old and break down too often. The only option presented to ensure the safety of our community and our brave first responders will be to dig deeper into our pockets and vote for another tax increase.

Do you see how the gambit works? Plant the seeds of a budget crisis—like hiring 15 new positions on one time grant money—and then when the crisis happens, demand higher taxes to maintain public safety.

Again, we need council members who ask questions and demand answers. Rubber stamping every staff-born scheme to raise taxes does not make you a good person or an honorable representative of your constituents. You have to educate yourself and do the work. How does this budget get fixed?

Keene Winters is a former Wausau city alderman. He is also a two-time winner of recognition from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association for opinion page content.

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Winters: Wausau City Council must take action on motor pool woes