(Beaver Dam) The Dodge County Board’s Land Resources and Parks Committee Thursday night held a public hearing on efforts to form a Beaver Dam Lake District. The taxing jurisdiction would raise revenue from waterfront property owners to address issues ranging from shoreline erosion to water quality. Revenue would be generated based on either assessed value or an equal division of the number of properties. Those who live inside the lake district would approve or disapprove budgets set by commissioners.
The hearing began with a presentation by Michael Engelson, the executive director of Wisconsin Lakes, the association that the Beaver Dam Lake Improvement Association is affiliated with. Engelson says the district would, among other things, greatly improve the lake’s chances of receiving grant funding.
The hearing was triggered when the Beaver Dam Lake Improvement Association submitted a petition with the required signatures the county to form the district. A report on Thursday night’s hearing will now be presented to the county board within three months. A decision will need to be made by the county board within six months of the hearing. If the district is 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 when the new board will elect its own members. The first annual meeting would not be held until next summer.
The five-person district would 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, it was recently learned that the largest taxing jurisdiction appears to be the Town of Westford.
There are 1384 shoreline property owners representing roughly 800 properties and a 51-percent approval rate, or 706 signatures, was needed to advance the matter. The association collected 744 signatures.
Listen to the public hearing here:
