Town's terms on water service too steep for Waukesha

Oct. 17, 2012
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By Don Behm of the Journal Sentinel

Oct. 17, 2012 0

Waukesha - The Town of Waukesha is asking too high a price for inclusion in the city's future water service area, City Administrator Ed Henschel said Wednesday.

The city will not accept the town's request to be paid 20 years worth of property taxes as compensation for any property annexed by the city, he said.

"We will discuss a shorter time period," Henschel said. A state law requires a city or village to pay five years of property taxes to a town as compensation when there is unanimous support of property owners for annexation.

Henschel said he expects to set up a meeting with town officials next week to discuss the future water service area.

Town Chairman Angie Van Scyoc said Wednesday that she is willing to meet with city officials to discuss the town's terms.

The proposed payment of 20 years' worth of town property taxes on a parcel to be annexed is reasonable compensation for the loss of tax revenue, Van Scyoc said.

In addition to the compensation, the town is seeking joint review with the city of annexation requests from property owners.

The town wants to work cooperatively with the city on controlling growth, she said.

"We're not going to facilitate the uncontrolled expansion of the city," Van Scyoc said.

The Waukesha Common Council discussed the town's proposal behind closed doors Tuesday evening.

Asked to comment on the town's request for joint review of annexations, Henschel said the city would comply with state laws governing annexations.

The town is included in a future water service area designated by regional planners to be part of the city's request to divert Lake Michigan water inland to its customers.

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission set up the future area to include the City of Waukesha and portions of the City of Pewaukee and towns of Delafield, Genesee and Waukesha. The larger service area would accommodate the need to extend municipal water to landowners who encounter contamination problems with their private wells and property owners in the towns seeking annexation to the city.

Town of Waukesha officials have not approved the proposed service area. The other three communities have agreed to the plan. A small section of the City of Pewaukee was included under terms of a border agreement with the former Town of Pewaukee before incorporation.

The City of Waukesha is asking the eight Great Lakes states to approve diverting Lake Michigan water across the subcontinental divide separating the lake drainage basin from the Mississippi River. Nearly all of the water would be returned to the lake as treated wastewater.

The state Department of Natural Resources is reviewing the request. Unanimous approval of the eight states is required under terms of a Great Lakes protection compact.

If approved, the diversion would begin this decade and the city would stop using deep wells drawing radium-contaminated ground water from a sandstone aquifer.

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About Don Behm

Don Behm reports on Milwaukee County government, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the environment and communities in southeastern Wisconsin. He has won reporting awards for investigations of Great Lakes water pollution, Milwaukee's cryptosporidiosis outbreak, and the deaths of three sewer construction workers in a Menomonee Valley methane explosion.

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