Boundary Report
Boundary Report
The genesis of the request to change the boundary of the Whitewater/Rice Lakes Management district request stems from discussions over the past several years dating back to the mid 1980s when this district was originally formed. Then, a majority of the land owners agreed to form the district. Its boundary was determined by those who agreed to be in it. This boundary is the current boundary for the district and is represented by the red dotted line on the map. (See WhitewaterRiceLakeNotice.doc for the map).
Over time as the area on and around the lake became more populated and both property taxes and land values have increased, many of the land owners in the Whitewater/Rice Lakes management district have complained of its arbitrary border. While certain land owners had lake access rights and were not part of the district, others were part of the district yet did not have lake access or lake views.
In 2003, two non-riparian land owners in the district formally requested to be detached from the district. The Whitewater/Rice Lakes Management District Board agreed to initiate a study of this request at the direction of the voting populace at that annual meeting.
A sub-committee of both riparian and non-riparian land owners was formed to develop a formal evaluation of the boundary change request and present back to the board and voting populace a recommendation to meet it. This committee was chaired by Mark Skidmore, Economics Professor and Department Chair, UW –Whitewater. Also, Dr.
Jeffrey Thornton of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) was contacted to assist in the study. You have all received a copy of the study.
The key objective of the study was to determine a fair,
equitable and justifiable boundary based on two major principles used by both
the State and the UW extension office:
1) All properties in the watershed of the lake should be within its lake management district, and
2) The actual boundary should be clearly identifiable and discernable.
This sub-committee also reviewed policies from other lake
management districts in
Dr. Thornton helped summarize how other lake management districts develop boundaries and generate revenues. The options ranged from one to three-tier tax structures as well as a “special charge” approach where riparian landowners are assessed special fees for services. These are also detailed in the study presented to you.
In order to develop a recommendation that meets the key boundary criteria above as well as a fair and equitable tax rate structure, three scenarios were developed: riparian only boundary, the current boundary, and an expanded boundary.
(Note: The study used the 2005 budget of $158,000. In 2006, the budget was also 158,000. In 2007, the proposed budget is $167,200.)
Using the 2005 budget of $158,000, the riparian only option would increase the mill rate per $100,000 from $87.60 top $147.00 based on assessed values of about $107 million. The current boundary option would keep the mill rate at $87.60 per $100,000 based on assessed values of about $180 million. The expanded boundary option would decrease the mill rate to $73.50 per $100,000.
Based on this information and the information learned from studying other lakes and from Dr. Thornton, the sub-committee recommended the expanded boundary option.
This option abides by the two major principles established by the State of those landowners within the watershed of the lake and have a direct effect on it should be within its management boundary, and having a clearly identifiable boundary that is easily discernable. It also removes the arbitrary nature of the current boundary.
The sub-committee also recommended adopting a three-tier tax structure. It provides a more equitable tax structure for riparian, non-riparian and agricultural land owners. Riparian landowners would be taxed at the full mill rate. Non riparian landowners would be taxed at 68 % of the mill rate. Agricultural landowners would be taxed at zero. Using the figures above, non-riparian landowners would pay $59.50 per $100,000 instead of $87.60 based on the $215 million of total assessed valuations being almost equally split between riparian and non-riparian landowners.
This sub-committee recommendation was supported by the majority of the current lake management voting populace at the last annual meeting, and thus was presented before the Land Use Sub-Committee of the Walworth County Board on January 22nd. At this hearing, this proposal was met with about 35 people who were opposed to it. The Sub-Committee voted to deny the boundary change due to the overwhelming negative response it received from those in attendance. The proposal went before the full Walworth County Board on February 13th. It was unanimously rejected by the full board.
As result, the boundary will remain the same. There will be no further activity on this matter.
The subcommittee believes that these recommendations are based on sound principles of public sector management. Annexing properties as outlined in blue on the appendix map is also consistent with the benefits principle: Property owners in the proposed areas of annexation have received benefits from lake management activity, but have never paid taxes to fund such activities. Expanding the district to include these properties simply requires these owners to pay in accordance with benefits received. It also reduces the arbitrary nature of the current boundary and broadens the tax base.