Stevens Point Current: City receives OK for TIF district exception, Junction City seeks relief for utility upgrades
Stevens Point Current is a regular column in the Stevens Point Journal by Service Journalism Reporter Erik Pfantz that covers a range of topics in city and county governments and local school districts to highlight the many items that flow past our local decision-makers.
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City receives exception for new TIF district that includes East Park Commerce Center
Stevens Point leaders were given access to a popular economic development tool following the signing of a bipartisan state law in March.
On March 21, Gov. Tony Evers signed 2023 Wisconsin Act 136 into law. The law allows Stevens Point to surpass a limit − set at 12% by state law − to the amount of a municipality’s property value that can be contained within tax incremental finance districts. The city may only exceed this limit to create Tax Incremental District 14 until Oct. 1, 2024.
State Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point), state Rep. Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point) and education, business and agriculture leaders in the Stevens Point area testified to support the law.
“This law will allow tax increment from new developments to be used to fund railroad spurs, water access, sewer lines and transportation access,” Mayor Mike Wiza said in a March 22 news release. “The bipartisan support this bill received is a testament to the far-reaching effect it will have on Stevens Point and central Wisconsin.”
The new TIF district will contain the East Park Commerce Center, which was named a Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. certified site in 2013.
Grant will help Stevens Point complete greenhouse gas emissions inventory
Stevens Point was awarded $178,672 from Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission through the department’s Energy Innovation Grant Program.
The grant was awarded for community-wide comprehensive energy planning efforts and specifically will help the city with completing a greenhouse gas emissions inventory, identifying energy strategies that align with the federal government’s equity requirements and simplify energy and emissions data collection.
“This grant will help our community lead the way in establishing a statewide standard for measuring greenhouse gas emissions in communities in Wisconsin,” Mayor Mike Wiza said in a April 25 news release. “Working with our membership in the Wisconsin Local Government Climate Coalition, we’ll be able to share data to better understand how communities can reduce their impact on the environment.”
The Wisconsin Local Government Climate Coalition is made up of 14 cities in addition to Stevens Point, three villages and four counties. These include Wausau, Eau Claire and Appleton.
Junction City seeks financial relief for utility upgrades
Junction City’s roughly 170 sewer and water customers rely on a system that is not quite old enough to have lead lateral service lines but is old enough to have a water tower painted both outside and inside with lead paint, according to Village President Peter Mallek. While the interior is consistently treated with a coating to prevent lead from leeching into the drinking water, removing the paint entirely is one item on a list of needed improvements.
Mallek approached the Portage County Board’s Finance Committee in February with a request for federal COVID-19 relief dollars to help with the cost of over $4 million of improvements. The county had previously received a request from Mallek in March 2023, which was included with the February meeting materials. No action was taken on Mallek’s request.
In recent years, Junction City has experienced both a decreasing population and increasing costs to maintain its utility systems. However, Mallek told a Stevens Point Journal reporter that over a dozen new residential projects have active building permits, and a Dollar General is expected to build and open in the village by September.
Mallek described the village’s process for identifying the needed improvements as both meeting current needs and anticipating likely future needs. Some of the major improvement items include the water tower paint, a new water main to complete a loop out of two dead ends, relining the city’s old sewer pipes and addressing phosphorus effluent that currently exceeds Department of Natural Resources regulations.
Expect to see more developments on this story in the coming months.
More local news: Nelsonville residents file lawsuit against DNR and Gordondale Farms over groundwater monitoring settlement
Local education news: Here's how statewide reading reform is impacting Stevens Point Area Public Schools
Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA-TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Reach him at epfantz@gannett.com or connect with him on X (formerly Twitter) @ErikPfantz.
This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: Stevens Point Current: TIF district exception, Junction City utility upgrades
