‘Tax Raffle’ is a Good Way to Draw Attention to Federal Cuts

By La Crosse Tribune, Wis.

Feb. 5–You’ve got to give La Crosse County officials credit for thinking out of the box. Their “property tax raffle” is an unusual way to draw attention to federal funding cuts to counties.

County officials are caught in a bind, with federal domestic spending targeted under President Bush’s new desire to balance the federal budget.

At issue in this case are cutbacks to programs that help collect child support from ex-spouses or partners of low-income people. The federal government requires states to have such programs to make sure that noncustodial parents help support their children.

And that makes sense, because a spouse who actually gets child support the court has ordered the noncustodial parent to pay will theoretically be less likely to need or receive other government assistance.

In any event, Wisconsin counties would lose $79.6 million through 2010, and La Crosse County will lose $150,000 in 2008. Because the county is under revenue caps by the state, it can’t increase property taxes to pay for the shortfall without a referendum.

So, County Administrator Steve O’Malley wants to call attention to the issue, or perhaps even put pressure on the federal government to change its mind about child support.

After all, the feds haven’t let up on the mandate for child-support collection. They just want to shift the cost to local taxpayers.

“We’re hoping to raise some dollars with the property tax raffle, but also get the attention of Congress and the state to reinstate the funding,” O’Malley said last week.

Here’s how it will work:

La Crosse County will sell up to 10,000 raffle tickets for $5 each. If all tickets are sold, the raffle would raise $50,000, half of which would be used for prizes and costs, and the other half would go to the child-support agency.

Winners could receive up to about $3,500 — roughly the average property tax bill. But they don’t have to use it to pay their taxes. They can do what they want with it.

It won’t raise a lot of money for the agency. At best, there will be an additional $25,000 for local child-support efforts.

But it makes the county’s case for the importance of this federally mandated

program. And it does it in a relatively creative and possibly fun way.

And that’s pretty interesting.

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Copyright (c) 2007, La Crosse Tribune, Wis.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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