Dodge County Board Approves Formation Of Beaver Dam Lake District

(Juneau) The Dodge County Board Tuesday night approved the establishment of the Beaver Dam Lake District. The taxing entity will raise revenue from waterfront property owners to address issues ranging from shoreline erosion to water quality. The district could, among other things, greatly improve the lake’s chances of receiving grant funding.

The process was triggered when the Beaver Dam Lake Improvement Association submitted a petition with the required signatures to the county to form the district.

Now that the district has been approved by the county, an organizational meeting of the initial lake district board must be held within 90 days, to prepare for the first annual meeting this summer when the new board will elect its own members.

Those who live inside the lake district will approve or disapprove budgets set by commissioners.

The five-person district will be comprised of three members elected at-large, one resident from Dodge County and one person representing the municipality with the highest amount of taxable lakefront property. Initially thought to be the city of Beaver Dam, the largest taxing jurisdiction instead appears to be the Town of Westford.

Revenue will be generated based on either assessed value or an equal division of the number of properties, as determined by the district board.

In order for the county board to consider the petition to form the district, a 51-percent approval rate was required, or 714 signatures were needed from shoreline property owners. Seven-hundred-and-thirty (733) were collected.

The vote was delayed last month to allow board members an opportunity to further research an amendment made by Supervisor Jeff Schmitt. His measure would have amended the boundary of the district, removing 560 parcels out of 1,104. The motion would have eliminated property owners who did not want to be part of the lake district.

The board approved the district for every shoreline property owner on a 21-to-six vote.

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