Jefferson County Payments to RKLD

Brian,
It is beyond my comprehension that Jefferson county has the money to put in an additional two lane by-pass highway over the rock river in Fort Atkinson but can't put up additional funding to improve the river & lake.

Why do they need to make highway 26 four lanes with a huge bridge over the river this seems completely absurd. Route 26 does not have that much traffic & this is a very costly project. Do you know about this ? Pls advise ? Thx, rbh

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Brian:

1) Jefferson has always enjoyed the increased tax base from the lake and river without ever having to contribute to the dam's operation or ownership.

2) The district property owners stepped up to the plate and accepted ownership of the dam even though it is the counties that benefit the most from the tax base.

3) Our benefit for doing this was the only way we could maintain our property value.

4) The district is now paying and will continue to pay the cost of repairs and operations by voting to tax themselves for those costs without any additional costs to the county, $75K is a very cheap investment on their part

5) We - I as a tax payer am offended that elected members of this board would even consider such action when it is you and all residents of this county benefit by what the lake district has done by stepping up and voluntarily taxing themselves for the benefit of others.

Jim