Top Stories, October 27th

High Winds Cause Scattered Power Outages

10/27/10 - Electricity providers say they are out in full force as high winds continue to cause isolated power outages throughout the state. Steve Schultz of Alliant Energy says the outages are not a widespread problem but rather a series of isolated incidents separated by large geographic distances. He asks customers without power to remain patient and says crews are working around the clock to get power restored.

Waupun On Pace For 0% Tax Increase

10/27/10 - City officials in Waupun are one step closer to a zero percent increase to the tax levy for 2011. The Committee of the Whole reviewed the latest numbers last night. City Administrator Kyle Clark says they were around $391,000 shy of their goal when the process started but he says department heads really stepped forward so now they’re within around $40,000 of their target. Clark says revenue projections for next year may be a little too conservative and will be revisited before finalizing the budget. Waupun will have roughly the same levy as last year, which was right around two-million dollars. The total operating budget is around $7-million, which is up about $200,000 over this year. Clark says if there is no increase to the tax levy he anticipates residents mill rates would actually go down. Police Chief Dale Herringa was also applauded by the council for his success in grant writing, which this year brought in nearly $56,000; money that would have otherwise been assessed to taxpayers. Alderman Dan Ganz did question the police department’s overtime, numbers which he said “jumped off the page.” Herringa agreed to provide detailed information over the next quarter on how the overtime is used but he did note that three of his officers are currently on leave, stretching his resources thin. The Waupun city budget will be considered on the council floor at their November meeting.

Area School Districts Set Levy

10/27/10 - A number of area school districts approved 2011 budgets this week. The Cambria-Friesland School District will levy for just under $2 million dollars, a nearly 14% increase over the current budget. The mill rate will increase $1.42 to $9.86 per $1000 of assessed value. The Mayville School District levy is up 6% to $5.3 million with a mill rate of $9.30 per thousand, up 53 cents. The Dodgeland School District will see a tax levy increase of 2.3% to $4.4 million. The mill rate will increase 57 cents to $13.42 per thousand.

We Energies Posts Huge Summer Profits

10/27/10 - Wisconsin’s biggest electric utility reports a 93-percent increase in its quarterly profits. Wisconsin Energy – the parent firm of We Energies which serves the southern half of Dodge County – says customers used record amounts of electricity to cool themselves during one of the persistently hot-and-humid summers on record. As a result, the company reported a net operating income of 112-million dollars from July-through-September. That’s up from 58-million during the same period in 2009 – when the weather was cooler than normal. C-E-O Gale Klappa said this summer’s overnight lows were warmer than the norm, so people kept their air conditioners running overnight more often. And he called it a surprise, considering that people are still hurting from the rough economy. We Energies said there was record electricity usage by home customers in July – and by small business and commercial customers in August.