News & Events

By Al Stanek
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
January 29, 2021

The City of Whitewater appears to be moving forward to exercise an option to soon close all but one of its existing Tax Incremental Districts (TIDs) and temporarily “extend” the remaining TID for one year rather than allow it to stay open until 2027. TIDs are the mechanism for communities to utilize the popular economic development tool known as Tax Incremental Financing (TIF). The TIF tool is highly regulated by the State of Wisconsin and the City uses its financial advisory firm, Ehlers and Associates, to guide them through the process.

If the Common Council decides in favor of exercising the option an expected $2 million of funding would potentially be available to acquire land or infrastructure to enhance economic development. This would be the second major utilization of complex federal and state funding options to help reduce the city tax burden. The Council last month voted to use over $800,000 from a closed out economic development revolving loan program to help finance a proposed water tower project that will replace a 131-year-old water tower. The replacement is expected to expand water capacity to support future city development and resolve a reported water pressure problem on the city’s far west side.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for our community to once again gain access to the TIF financing economic development tool,” said Cathy Anderson, the Whitewater Community Development Authority’s (CDA) Director, and lead economic development officer for the City of Whitewater.

At the January 28 CDA meeting Anderson and Ehlers and Associates TIF expert Greg Johnson recommended that the CDA pass a resolution urging the City’s Common Council to act next month to begin the process to exercise the option of close-out and one-year “extension.” They advised that communities are only allowed to have 12% of their property value designated as TID districts. The City’s existing six districts apparently reach that limit which has temporarily taken away the TIF economic development tool from the City. The CDA followed through on the recommendation after a lengthy discussion.

The WI Department of Revenue ‘TIF Manual’ defines TIF financing as “…a financing option that allows a municipality to fund infrastructure and other improvements, through property tax revenue on newly developed property. A municipality identifies an area, the Tax Incremental District (TID), as appropriate for a certain type of development.” “…as property values rise, the municipality uses the property tax paid on that development to pay for the projects. After the project costs are paid, the municipality closes the TID. The municipality, schools, county, and technical college are able to levy taxes on the value of the new development.”

Your property tax bill, although sent to you by the city, generates tax revenue for the county, school districts and the area technical college. The closed Whitewater TID districts would apparently mean greater revenue for the other units of government as that revenue currently goes exclusively to support development activities during the often 20-to-30-year life of a given TID. Most of the Whitewater TIDs were created over 20 years ago and could technically stay in place for several more years although many of the original projects in each of those TIDs have been completed or found to be unfeasible for one reason or another.

The one-year temporary extension of the city’s largest TID, an area roughly encompassing the Industrial Park and Downtown area, could generate some controversy as the other taxing districts would not be able to use the proceeds from that district for an additional year. A one-time option of temporarily extending the single tax district for a year would allow the City to use the proceeds in that year to take steps to make housing more affordable and potentially provide funding for housing rehabilitation. City Manager Cameron Clapper told the CDA that although the City would not need official concurrence from the other governmental units (county, school district and technical college) for the extension of the remaining TID, those agencies will be actively involved in advising how the use of the one year of the remaining single TID revenue would be used. He put forth the proposition that adding more city residents with children by enhancing the affordability of city homes would be a benefit to the school system and other municipal partners.

(UW-W press release) State of the University Address – Feb. 1

Students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to watch Chancellor Dwight C. Watson’s State of the University Address at Noon, Monday, Feb. 1.

UWW-TV will livestream the event at http://uwwtv.housing.uww.edu/

Mark Dorn writes, “Four deer out for a sunny stroll on the banks of a frozen Trippe Lake, Saturday morning, January 23, 11 a.m.!” 

Our thanks to Mark Dorn for submitting this interesting picture.

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(Whitewater Student Government press release) This evening, January 25th, 2021, the Whitewater Student Government (WSG) Senate passed unanimously R20-21:09 titled, Resolution of Support for Wisconsin COVID-19 Protections. Attached is the Resolution that was passed, and signed by the WSG President. 

“Seraphim Falls”(Western/Action/Thriller/Chase) – THURSDAY, January 28, 1 p.m. only
Rated R (Violence, extreme action)
1 hour, 55 minutes (2007)
Now for something totally different—-a two-fisted, good old Western! Five years after the end of the Civil War, a former Confederate colonel (Liam Neeson) seeking vengeance for a wartime atrocity, leads a posse into the snowy mountains of Oregon on a relentless hunt for the Union officer (Pierce Brosnan) he holds responsible. Breathtaking scenery, exciting stunts and superb acting. They just don’t make movies like this anymore !

There is a capacity limit, and COVID-19 precautions, including facial mask, are required. Please register in advance online, by email (dweberpal@whitewater-wi.gov), or phone (473-0535).

(Whitewater Democrats press release) The Whitewater Democrats celebrated the National Day of Service on Martin Luther King Day this January by holding a donation drive to support the UW-Whitewater Warhawk Pantry which provides groceries for college students with food insecurity. Hunger and food insecurity at UW-Whitewater and nationwide on college campuses is a pressing issue. A recent survey of 86,000 college students found that 45% had been food insecure in the past 30 days.

The donation drive was a great success with $1,000 in monetary donations contributed as well as almost another $1,000 in food and personal hygiene products. 

Accepting the donation were Fabiola Aranda, Warhawk Pantry Coordinator and Aliyah Noh, Warhawk Pantry Assistant.

MADISON, Wis. (January 22, 2021) – The University of Wisconsin-Madison has recognized students named to the Dean’s List for the fall semester of the 2020-2021 academic year.

Students who achieve at a high level academically are recognized by the dean at the close of each semester. To be eligible for the Dean’s List, students must complete a minimum of 12 graded degree credits in that semester. Each university school or college sets its own GPA requirements for students to be eligible to receive the distinction. Most call the honor “dean’s list”, but some grant the “Dean’s Honor List” and “Dean’s High Honor List.”

To view an online listing, visit http://registrar.wisc.edu/deans_list.htm. For questions or concerns about eligibility, please contact deanslist-registrar@em.wisc.edu

HOMETOWN, STATE; NAME, COLLEGE, AWARD

Whitewater, WI

 Caroline Crowley, College of Letters and Science, Dean’s List
 James Dedrick, College of Engineering, Dean’s Honor List
 Sophia Elworthy, College of Letters and Science, Dean’s List
 Jaden Henneman, Col of Agricultural & Life Sci, Dean’s List
 Meghan Kehoe, School of Education, Dean’s List
 Ali Ketterhagen, School of Business, Dean’s List
 Nick Kuzoff, College of Letters and Science, Dean’s List
 Jan Maroske, College of Engineering, Dean’s Honor List
 Milena Maroske, School of Education, Dean’s List
 Sophie Mayer, College of Letters and Science, Dean’s List
 NOAH Miller, College of Letters and Science, Dean’s List
 Connor Steinke, College of Letters and Science, Dean’s List
 Andy Vo, College of Letters and Science, Dean’s List
 Huong Vo, College of Letters and Science, Dean’s List