News Summary Ozaukee/Washington Counties
OZAUKEE COUNTY
Turn in unusable medications Saturday
Ozaukee County residents can dispose of their unwanted or expired prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications at the Ozaukee County Highway Department garage, 410 Spring St., Port Washington, from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.
The Columbia St. Mary’s Foundation and the Ozaukee County Public Health and Sheriff’s departments are sponsoring the “Medication Take Back” day. A community’s water can be polluted by flushing unused medications down a toilet, the Public Health Department said.
CEDARBURG
EPA proposes cleanup of Superfund site
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed a $2.3 million cleanup of a Superfund site in Cedarburg, where local officials hope to build a library.
The site is the former Madison Ave. home of Mercury Marine Plant No. 2. It is contaminated with PCBs, chemical compounds linked to cancer and other health problems.
According to the EPA, the proposed cleanup would involve excavation of shallow and subsurface soil, as well as groundwater monitoring.
The cost would be paid by Mercury Marine, said EPA attorney Rick Nagle.
A public comment period on the proposal runs from Monday to Nov. 9. A public meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Cedarburg City Hall.
Copies of the study that evaluated cleanup options, as well as the proposed cleanup and other documents, are at epa.gov/region5/ sites/cedarcreek. They are also on file at Cedarburg City Hall and the Cedarburg Public Library, W63-N583 Hanover Ave.
Residents with questions may contact EPA Community Involvement Coordinator Susan Pastor at (800) 621-8431, Ext. 31325, or pastor.susan@epa.gov.
MEQUON
Proposed ’08 budget would raise tax rate 1 cent
Elected officials in Mequon have begun reviewing a proposed 2008 budget that calls for a 2.8% increase in the property tax levy and an increase of less than $4 on the typical homeowner’s property tax bill.
On Tuesday, the Appropriations Committee, which is composed of the mayor and the eight aldermen, held the first of three scheduled reviews of the budget proposed by City Administrator Lee Szymborski.
Ald. Dan Gannon said the committee will hold two more budget meetings on the next two Tuesdays and then the Common Council would vote on the budget Nov. 13.
The proposed 2.8% increase in the property tax levy, to nearly $12.5 million, is within the city’s property tax “freeze,” which limits increases to the amount of new construction.
At that level, the estimated property tax rate would be $3.42 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, up a penny.
The average Mequon home, valued at $365,570, would pay about $1,248 in property taxes to the city, up less than $4.
Taking into account funds from all sources, the budget is proposed to be $17.5 million, up 3.46%.
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Board suggests budget increase in 2008
Washington County would spend $117.66 million in 2008, up 4.4% from this year, as part of an operating budget recommended Wednesday by the County Board’s Finance Committee.
A countywide property tax levy of $38.55 million, up 2.8%, would pay slightly less than one-third of operating expenses.
The levy would be generated by a tax rate of $2.81, down 7 cents from this year. State and federal aid, fees and other revenue would pay for the remaining expenses next year.
A public hearing on the spending plan is scheduled at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 in the board meeting room of the Government Center at the Courthouse, 432 E. Washington St.
RICHFIELD
Bidding grows for town’s boat lots
Bids for two “boat lots” on Bark Lake that are being sold by the Town of Richfield on eBay were approaching $6,000 each Thursday afternoon.
Bids began at $1,700 per parcel.
At 10 feet wide by 20 feet long, each lot is no bigger than a home’s living room and offers nothing more than a toehold on the water. The fine print in the eBay description states: “The lots are not buildable.”
Such narrow pieces of access to the water were common in the region during that early period of lakeshore development, Washington County Register of Deeds Sharon Martin said. Boat lots frequently were sold with a lot in a subdivision to be developed not far from a lake.
A photo of one parcel and maps of boat lots E and F are available on the town’s eBay listing at www.ebay.com. Search the Real Estate section of the site for Bark Lake.
The auction started Sept. 28 and will end Monday.
GERMANTOWN
Board OKs pay raises to reduce turnover
The Germantown Village Board has approved pay raises for some village employees in what the village president says is an attempt to reduce turnover.
The raises approved Monday are for Village Administrator David Schornack, his assistant, Ann Kaczmarek, and 20 other employees who are not represented by a union.
Twenty of the 22 would get raises as of Jan. 1 and all 22 would get automatic raises at certain points in the future.
The initial cost of implementing the program would be $36,000. Those receiving raises include Schornack, who gets a 3.12%, or $2,749, increase, to $90,749; and Kaczmarek, who gets the largest raise, $7,685, to $48,889.
A proposal to charge residents $1 every time they use the village recycling center has been put on hold.
Trustee Art Zabel, chairman of the Village Board’s General Government and Finance Committee, said the board asked the committee to survey residents on the proposal. But Zabel said the committee decided last month there probably wasn’t any point in doing a survey because most residents probably would say they oppose the fee.
The committee decided to refer the proposal back to the board, Zabel said.
HARTFORD
Broan-NuTone celebrates anniversary Saturday
Broan-NuTone has scheduled a community open house for Saturday to mark the company’s 75th anniversary. The event will include tours and a proclamation by Mayor Scott Henke. Broan-NuTone, 926 W. State St., Hartford, is North America’s largest producer of residential ventilation products.
The federal Bureau of Aeronautics has approved a plan to extend the Hartford Municipal Airport runway by 700 feet, to 3,700 feet, in 2010, according to an announcement by Hartford Area Development Corp.
“This is the first step in the plan of expanding the runway to 5,000-plus feet,” Werner Wolpert, executive director of the development group, wrote in the news release.
A survey conducted by the development group in July 2006 showed that 46 of 58 local business owners wanted the runway extended to 5,000 feet, Wolpert wrote.
Doing so would require that Highway U be rerouted, Wolpert said. Plans also call for building a new terminal building for the airport in 2012, officials say.
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