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Stormwater fee proposal high on La Crosse city council’s list of items for June meeting on Thursday

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La Crosse’s city council is scheduled to approve new stormwater fees at its Thursday meeting.

The proposed hike in the regular household fee to maintain the stormwater system would be about 5 dollars a month this year, and then 2 dollars per month next year. Council president Tamra Dickinson tells WIZM’s La Crosse Talk that those fee increases figure into the city’s procedures for avoiding debt.

FILE – Vehicles drive through a flooded Rose Street, after rainfall in 2021. (PHOTO: Rick Solem)

“Because of how things happened, and that we aren’t planning poorly, it’s that we need to start having enough moneys to have it be self-sufficient,” says Dickinson, “and that was put in place by the council” around 2018. Dickinson says the proposed fee increases have been put off for years.

Dickinson says borrowing money would be the most expensive way to maintain the stormwayer system, and that would be financed through city taxes. City committees have been split on whether to effectively double your quarterly bill for maintaining the stormwater utility. The city of La Crosse has enough cash available to cover the stormwater utility costs for about two months, but they try to keep a reserve fund that will last eight months.

The city provided a sheet to residents outlining the proposed changes in the stormwater rate. Read it below.

The La Crosse council meets at 6 o’clock Thursday night. Members also are expected to make zoning changes for a block of Winnebago Street, to help construction of a new school at the Hogan building site.

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A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. walden

    June 11, 2025 at 9:33 pm

    Listened in on Solem’s interview of the council president. It was like Mayberry’s Floyd The Barber interviewing Aunt Bea. There was no apparent subject matter knowledge from either. Good grief.

    And where is the mayor? He seems to have disappeared after the election.

  2. Ron Taxpayer

    June 12, 2025 at 7:44 am

    The proposed Stormwater Utility (rain tax) fixed rate would increase from $53.92 per year per ERU, to $118.64 per year per ERU that = a 120.03% increase even though Inflation total increase since 2011 was 41.75%.
    There is a proposal for an additional 22% increase on January 1, 2026 plus 3% for the next 3 years that comes out to an affective 184.79% increase over the next 4 years.
    To put in that in perspective Social Security of $2000.00 today would increase to $5695.80 at the same rate and time line of the storm water fee increase in 4 years!
    What’s with the BS they are saying that it makes it fair because non-profits will have to pay. What it does is make property taxpayers double dip in payments. If they are truly trying to make everyone pay their fair share and taxpayers are hit by this increase that same increase should be deducted from our property tax bill !!
    Also why did they move street sweeping from the street dept to the storm utility dept?
    Why not charge the park dept for all the solids that must be cleaned up from their Blvd. Trees?
    Why not charging the street dept for all the salt and sand that must be cleaned up after the winter?
    La Crosse is becoming unlivable between the taxes and fees and reduction in services, plus all the crime happening that is never reported by local news!

  3. Libertarian guy

    June 12, 2025 at 8:06 pm

    Our fearless leaders on City Council in the absence (excused) of our mayor just approved a significant increase to the stormwater utility fee. There was a valiant effort on the part of Barb Janssen to refer the matter for 30 days (to educate the public). There was also an effort on the part of Gary Padesky to amend the motion, essentially rearrange the increase to occur differently to make it feel more palatable to the residents but still increase it. I get it. The city needs more revenue. Why? Because elected officials operating as a group tend to be poor financial stewards. That said, very good argument was made to justify the increase. Unfortunately, the property tax picture is the real villain here. Reminders to the community: the federal government gave the city $22 million in ARPA funds. They have spent or earmarked it all while ignoring stormwater utility needs. They approved “donating” $250,000 of taxpayer money to help create a safety net for the airline industry just in case an airline serving lacrosse happens to lose money. They continue to waste dollars on road diets, bump outs, the Greenway project, and by borrowing money that is wasted on interest payments/debt service, $42 million to remodel the lacrosse center and associated debt service to make the La Crosse Center profitable, yet the La Crosse Center is still losing money with a $400,000 per year deficit. And don’t forget the hundreds of thousands spent on “solving homelessness” and cleaning up their mistakes at the EconoLodge, at Houska Park, at Cameron Park, the marsh, and along the Mississippi River on the north side. These are just a few examples. Operating city government in this fashion is making it very difficult to live and remain in La Crosse. If the rainwater utility needs to increase, so be it. Make better choices City Council that will actually reduce our property taxes. Stop your wasteful spending. Reduce the city debt.

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