Trenton Mayor, Library Director Need Unified Vision & Common Agenda

Lotta white space for the time being.

Link to September 11 Times of Trenton article, "City delays reopening of libraries".

Excerpt: Mayor Tony Mack's vow to reopen the city's four library branches on Monday will go unfulfilled, but the administration pledged yesterday to provide whatever funds are necessary to see the branches return to use quickly.

The delay stems from concerns about the high cost of opening the branches for four hours a day as calculated by library executive director Kimberly Matthews.

Trenton already faces a deficit of more than $60 million and will lay off up to 328 employees next month.

Mack and Matthews may also have different visions of the role of libraries. Mack described them as after-school havens for children, along with churches and recreation centers, rather than emphasizing their role as educational institutions staffed with certified librarians.

Related articles:
Preserving Trenton's libraries.  (8/15/2010)
Board president laments closing of 4 branches.  (8/7/2010)

Waukesha County Property Values Take a Tumble

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Link to September 7 Sussex Sun article, "Communities see decline in values".

Excerpt: Waukesha County, long regarded as a bastion of property wealth, has posted its greatest decline in equalized values in the last three decades, according to information released recently by the state department of Revenue (DOR).

"This is the second year on record that we have seen a decrease, and it's more than double last year's. We haven't seen that in over 30 years of records," explained Norm Cummings, the county director of administration.

"Last year, the whole county went down 1.6 percent in value. That was the first time in 30 years. That was almost exclusively housing values that went down.

"This year, housing went down 4.2 percent more. That was a little unexpected. The other thing was commercial property also went down," he said.

"Overall, the reduction was 3.2 percent. That was higher than expected. We expected it to go down 2 percent - that is a huge difference," Cummings said.

The equalized value is the estimated value of all taxable real and personal property in each taxation district, by class of property, as of Jan. 1, and certified by the DOR on Aug. 15 of each year.

Related articles:
The drop in Oshkosh's and Winnebago County's equalized property values.  (8/18/2010)
Department of Revenue released equalized values.  (8/13/2010)

Uncollected/Uncollectible Fines Total Millions of Dollars for Some Counties

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Link to September 12 Appleton Post-Crescent article, "Unpaid fines in Outagamie, Winnebago counties reach $5 million-plus".

Excerpt: The large amount of unpaid fines isn't surprising to Menasha attorney E.J. Jelinski.

On one side, the court system operates under the thought that those responsible for the costs of the system should pay for it. "It's a reasonable requirement," he said.

On the other side of the equation is that those responsible for the costs often aren't in a position to pay.

For those who owe large sums, no amount of patience will make those court-ordered payments simply disappear, clerks say.

Court officials have undertaken a number of methods to bring those dollars flowing into the county.

"Some people are on payment plans," said Winnebago County Clerk of Courts Diane Fremgen. "That's something we work aggressively on. We'd rather get something than nothing."

Both counties use collection agencies to recoup from those who don't pay.

Both also work with the state Department of Revenue to intercept tax refunds to offset fines in cases where refund money is available.