(Beaver Dam) Updated: Monday 2:00pm – A major vote on a borrowing plan in the city of Beaver Dam has been postponed. City officials cited inclement weather and a broken elevator in cancelling tonight’s Common Council and related committee meetings. The matters are expected to be addressed at the next regular meetings of the common council on Monday, March 5.
(Beaver Dam) City officials in Beaver Dam could be presented with as many as three different borrowing plans when they meet Monday night. Earlier this month, Mayor Becky Glewen introduced a five-year plan that would have the city borrow $3.7-million dollars each year for the next three years, instead of the $1.6-million that is currently allowed under the council’s self-imposed borrowing cap. In years four and five of the plan, the amount borrowed each year would decrease to $2.1-million dollars. The money would be directed to downtown revitalization and additional street projects above and beyond what had been identified in previous versions of the five-year plan.
Council President Robert Ballweg plans to offer his own revisions to the borrowing plan that reduces borrowing in the first three years, by $300-thousand dollars, to $3.4-million annually. The cuts would lower but not eliminate funds for downtown revitalization while also diverting $25-thousand dollars to complete the long-delayed skateboard park. Ballweg’s proposal would also establish a city-run, low-to-no interest home improvement loan program to compliment a more restrictive Community Development Block Grant program that is administered by the city using state and federal dollars. Ballweg’s proposal is just around one-million dollars less over five years than the mayor’s plan.
A third borrowing plan by Alderman Ken Anderson eliminates funding for the downtown revitalization plan but still exceeds the borrowing cap to pay for roads, and a splash pad to replace the aging city pool. Anderson’s borrowing plan would total $3.47-million in year one and $12.5-million over five years, which is about $2.6-million dollars less than the mayor’s proposal.
The mayor’s $3.7-million-dollar plan would cost the owner of a $100-thousand dollar home $800 over the course of the loan through 2030, which is on average $66-per year or $5.50-per month. No word yet on the tax impact of the two amended borrowing plans.
It would require a three-fourths majority of the council to approve borrowing above the $1.6-million cap. Even though the council will approve a five-year plan, the borrowing for each individual year will require a separate vote. The Common Council meets tonight at 8pm in City Hall; the borrowing plan will be presented first in the Administrative Committee which meets at 6:30pm.
