WAUPUN — Mayor of Waupun Rohn Bishop released a budgetary draft for the City of Waupun Tuesday afternoon. A common struggle throughout the budget draft: revenue generation.
“As you’ll see it’s another tight budget and Waupun is again making cuts,” Mayor Bishop said. “Waupun’s shared revenue remains flat since having been cut in 2011, and even though we are a growing community, the net new construction only brought in an additional $28,000.”
“This time we’re putting off street projects like mill and overlays,” Mayor Bishop explained. “We’re going to cut back to every other year for painting streets, we will continue on with one vacant police position, and we still can not afford to replace a fire truck. We also can’t afford showers for our fire department. We’d like showers so the firefighters can wash off hazardous chemicals they come into contact with at fire scenes. We’re close to not being able to afford maintenance on our historic city hall,” Mayor Bishop concluded. Health Insurance premiums and inflating gas prices really hurt us, too.”
“We just can’t afford much of this anymore, and we can’t keep cutting city employees,” Mayor Bishop concluded. “It’s nice the legislature keeps running budget surpluses, but it’s not doing Waupun any good when we may have to go to referendum just to maintain basic services.”
Mayor Bishop also appeared on WTMJ’s Steve Scaffidi Radio Show Wednesday morning to discuss the budget issues.
The budget draft was twelve pages long and did not include a finalized work plan and proposal.
“I highlight these things merely to explain challenges we will face ahead that will require careful planning and decision-making. In 2023, staff and Council will undertake work on strategic planning to inform future budgeting decisions that take all of these things into account, and we will be looking for your input in that process.”
Despite the challenges that the City faces for the next year, Mayor Bishop highlighted the many successes of the 2022 year for the City of Waupun. These accomplishments included various completed projects, finalized agreements and contracts, city limits expansion, and grants received by the city for community development.
“Back to that list of accomplishments, we continue to build on a strong foundation and I am optimistic about the positive things happening within the City of Waupun as we work to deliver services with excellence in 2023,” Mayor Bishop concluded.
Questions about the budget can be directed to City Administrator Kathy Schlieve.
