Mayor’s Column February 11th, 2023
Rohn Bishop, Mayor of Waupun
Hello Waupun!
You may have noticed lots of little flags and painted snow around parts of the west side of Waupun. Bug Tussel is placing new Fiber Optic Cables, conduit, and vaults through Waupun. They’ll be placing the new cables in previously disturbed utility corridors and Right-of-Ways along a specific path. The project path comes in on 49, and travels along a path to Maple, Harris, Rock, Pioneer, Brandon, Taylor/Jackson, to Drummond.
As the state legislature prepares for the governor’s proposed 2023-25 budget, I’m happy to see good movement on the shared revenue issue. It appears that Governor Evers, Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Speaker Robin Vos are coming to an agreement to not only increase shared revenues, but fix the funding formula, too. The current proposal would put 20%, or one cent of the sales tax, into local communities. This appears to be a big bipartisan breakthrough in the right direction,
Another issue that is unique to Waupun is that of the MSP or Mutual Service Provider Payments that the State of Wisconsin pays Waupun for offering emergency services to state buildings. For years, the state has only been paying 37% of what they’re supposed to, totaling to almost $400,000, and the state also contributes nothing towards our EMT services, even though they are responsible for 20% of EMT calls. I remain hopeful that with a $6 Billion budget surplus, that the state will make good on the money we’re owed, and also begin to pay us what they agreed to pay.
In other news, last week I gave an update to Kiwanis Club, toured King Manufacturing, and met with County Executive Sam Kaufman and Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt, where I learned about Fond du Lac County’s Emergency Government and Critical Incident preparedness. County Executive Kaufman and I also discussed possible solutions to the ongoing childcare shortage and some potential improvements to the county park located here in Waupun. I think there’s some exciting projects on the horizon, so stay tuned!
Thank you and God Bless,
Mayor Rohn
