BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – Brown County residents are getting their first taste of what the county’s 2018 budget could look like.
County Executive Troy Streckenbach unveiled his proposed spending plan Friday.
Deputy Executive Jeff Flynt notes the $276.5-million dollar document includes a tax levy of $90.5-million, up nearly $4-million from 2017.
“In 2017, we had a really good year of additional net new construction (1.87% or $368-million dollars). That helped boost our equalized value as a county.”
Streckenbach’s proposal calls for a 1% reduction in the mill rate, resulting in a $6.87 decrease on a $150-thousand dollar home.
The proposed mill rate of $4.54 per thousand dollars of assessed value would be down five cents from the one adopted in the 2017 budget.
Brown County’s equalized value is listed as $20.86-billion dollars.
Flynt says one item included in Streckenbach’s proposal is $89-thousand dollars for the implementation of an OWI court for people convicted of their fourth offense.
“If convicted of a fourth offense, a prison is now facing prison time.”
Flynt notes the goal would be to convince repeat offenders to change their behavior in an effort to reduce the number of bed nights in the county jail.
Another item would allocate $65-thousand dollars for a mental health court community placement initiative.
“When you have graduates of mental health court or somebody is identified as in need of services and they might go through a program or get released from jail, they really don’t have a place to go.”
Another $5-thousand dollars would fund a mental health continuum of care symposium that Flynt says would look to address a variety of mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness issues.
Flynt says the cost is still unknown for Streckenbach’s proposal of developing a Brown County chapter of the Honor Flight, which takes veterans to Washington D.C. to visit their respective memorials, free of cost.
“It would make their trip shorter, make their trip more comfortable, as opposed to driving all the way down to Appleton (where the Old Glory Honor Flight is based).”
Flynt notes there are roughly 27-thousand veterans in Brown County and the surrounding area.
Also included in the proposal is a $3-thousand rainy day fund to cover unforeseen costs without having to tap into the roughly $800-thousand dollars in wiggle room between the proposed levy and the state-imposed levy limit.
The county board will now review and discuss the spending plan.
You can view Streckenbach’s full proposal by clicking here.
