Forward Janesville - TheReport - Third Quarter 2021

time, this issue is notoriously difficult to legislate. So many issues influence our area’s workforce situation: the availability of quality, affordable housing; child care attainability; K-12 and secondary educational offerings; the wages paid by employers; etc. All these issues combine to define the attractiveness of our community, and we must optimize each of them to make Janesville a community of choice for our current and future workforce. Covid isn’t going away…and neither is the controversy surrounding pandemic-related safety measures. Much of the pandemic discussion was focused on the battle over the University of Wisconsin (UW) System Covid safety plans. Here’s a Cliff Notes version: The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules is requiring the UW System to get the committee’s go ahead before imposing masking, Covid testing, and vaccination requirements. Senator Steve Nass, who is the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, argued strongly that the UW System’s plans are subject to the state’s administrative rulemaking process. UW disagrees, and this matter may have to be ironed out in court. Janesville is still getting the short end of the stick from the state. Janesville receives $681 per capita in property taxes and state aid, the lowest of our peer cities. If Janesville received the peer average in state aid, it would result in an additional $5.6 million in aid annually. However, the shared revenue formula has been frozen since 2003, and the there is little appetite in Madison to re-run the formula. The reason? The cities that receive the most money—let’s call them ‘the winners’— want to stay winners, while the losers want to be winners too. Unfortunately, making every city a winner would be very expensive and is unsustainable in the long run. Our legislative delegation has been working on this issue for years. Representative Amy Loudenbeck and others helped Janesville with a five- year, $583,000 special assessment in the 2017-19 state budget, but that payment is set to expire next year. Janesville’s Representative Sue Conley has made the inequitable distribution of state shared revenue one of her flagship issues, and has made some progress with the State Department of Revenue (DOR). In fact, she may have actually convinced the DOR to re-run the formula as a test to see where the chips fall. We commend our delegation for continuing to beat the shared revenue drum; any progress on this issue is a positive development. Bonus Thing to Know: Janesville and Rock County has an impressive group of legislators. One of the benefits of getting our legislative delegation in the same room is to see how they interact with each other and the audience. While they come from every point on the political spectrum, they never cease to be cordial to and respectful of each other. Further, they are knowledgeable, insightful, and dedicated to their constituents. Our region is in good hands at the State Capitol. THIRD QUARTER 2021 • 15 2525 Milton Avenue • Janesville, WI 608.314.0084 • blackhawkbank.com MEMBER FDIC EQUAL HOUSING LENDER Local People. Financial Advice. Community Banking. We’re your bank. Dan Cunningham