Fulton referendum stalls by the side of the road
FULTON TOWNSHIP — The Town of Fulton won’t get extra tax money to repair its roads, but Chairman Evan Sayre isn’t out of ideas.
The town board will discuss Thursday what to do with a payment of nearly $500,000 from American Transmission Company for an upgraded line through the township. Sayre believes the money should go into a savings account with the interest to go for road maintenance.
Sayre planned to present his proposal even if a referendum asking for a 62 percent levy increase passed Tuesday.
The referendum failed by a 5-to-1 margin, 613 to 120. About 28 percent of eligible residents voted, Clerk Connie Zimmerman said.
The town was asking for an additional $300,000 for road maintenance. The price of road repaving has nearly doubled in the last four years, and the town board said it couldn’t afford to keep the roads in good repair with its current levy.
By state law, the town can’t raise its levy by more than 2 percent in 2009 without a referendum.
But critics said the town has plenty of money for road repair. The town has a large reserve and is expecting the payment from ATC in the next few months, resident Sandra Kraft wrote in an e-mail to The Janesville Gazette.
The town has $500,000 in an investment pool, but more than $200,000 of it is earmarked for a town hall building account, police squad car account and recycling expenses, Zimmerman said.
“That’s not just sitting there with nowhere to go,” Sayre said.
In addition to the $500,000 payment, ATC will pay the town $50,000 a year for the line upgrade. The money is supposed to go for parks and conservation, but the town can petition the state Public Service Commission to use it for other purposes.
Sayre proposes using the annual $50,000 payment and interest from the $500,000 for road maintenance. He estimates the town could get $65,000 a year that way.
He doesn’t think the town should spend the money all at once, because after a couple of years the money will be gone and the town will be right back where it started, he said.
“Once we get our hands on that money, we’ll put it to work,” he said.
Sep 11, 2008 at 6:30 a.m.
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What roads are so bad anyway that is alot of money. I live in fulton and all the roads are pretty good I think. sounds fishy. They should have thought about this before they came around and reassessed everyones homes two increaces in one year NO THANKS. Taxes used to be cheaper here not anymore. Maybe thats why everyones moving which will hurt everything even the schools like it already has.TIME FOR A CHANGE
Sep 10, 2008 at 10:06 p.m.
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I would just like to let you know that Fulton needed a new squad car! The old one barely worked and was a piece of junk! That squad car was an amazing investment!
Sep 10, 2008 at 4:24 p.m.
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I just had to call a friend on the Janesville Police force, and he said Fulton just bought a SUV squad for their police department.
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Another example of how town halls simply mislead their constiuents; constituents who would like to believe people like Ms. Zimmerman and usually do, until Zimmerman and Mr. Sayre try to sneak a major property tax increase past their constituents.
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Maybe that young Edgerton mayor can simply annex the town and be done with those yo-yos on the town board. They must think they are a "city" anyways, running their own police department and boosting property taxes to city levels.
Sep 10, 2008 at 10:27 a.m.
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This town board has gone completely wacko and all should resign or be recalled. Trying to sneak this thru during a primary that most people did not even know about is not good governance. It is slime. The word got out and voters responded. Now they should force resignations or start recalls with Evan Sayre first.
Sep 10, 2008 at 10:19 a.m.
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WHAT kind of reporting is this?? The Gazette tells the "other side" only after the referendum has taken place?
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I read the Vogel piece in Sunday's on-line version and nowhere did it mention anythng about "critics" or huge cash reserves or a windfall of a half-a-million dollars from ATC.
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Now that I re-read Sunday's reporting on this road referendum, it reads as if Vogel is an asphalt contractor and she is nearly endorsing the tax increase.
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It is simply amazing that the referendum was defeated by the margin it was - towns are notorious for misleading budgets and frankly, most towns have no business types serving on them. The result is most tax and spend items sneak through a public too busy or too unaware that local government has significant power over their land, their home, and their wallet.
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Most rely on daily newspapers to learn about the activity of their local elected officials.
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I am sure credit goes to the town resident (Sandra Kraft) for organizing an effort to overcome Mr. Sayre's and Ms. Zimmerman's attempt to hoodwink the public.
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And to the Gazette - wow, I now read you with a jaded eye.
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