Kewaskum Village Board Continues to Work on Budget

The Kewaskum Village Board held a regular meeting on November 3 at Kewaskum Village Hall at 7:00 p.m.
They held their public hearing on the repeal and recreation of Chapter 40, Floods of the Municipal Code. No one from the public chose to comment.
Village Administrator Adam Gitter gave the administrator’s report. He will be hosting a Budget Open House on November 12. During this time, the village will be open for questions from the public about the budget. The purpose of this is to educate the public on the budget process and help them better understand how municipal budgets work and be largely question-based. The proposed times are 7:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. There were no reports from the Assistant Administrator, Treasurer, Fire Chief, Police Chief, Public Works Director, or Library Director. There were no committee reports or unfinished business.
The village board continued to discuss their 2026 budget. Chief Bishop has expressed the need for an additional police officer to be hired in the Village of Kewaskum. The cost of this would range from around $150,000 to $180,000 with salary and benefits. In order to help with some of this cost, Chief Bishop has applied for a grant, but has not yet heard back. An additional proposed option for this was to hire a new officer in July to help cut some of the costs for this year. The Chief is still waiting to hear back from the grant. The village discussed what the option could look like if the grant is not awarded to help with some of the costs. This included a referendum that would need to be submitted by January.
There were mixed opinions from board members if the referendum would pass and what they would need to do if it did not pass, but there was a general consensus during the discussion that an additional officer was needed. Since it was just discussion, there was no decision made at the meeting.

The board continued to review their long-range financial plan. They adopted the long-range financial plan with a unanimous vote of 7-0. The long-range financial plan cannot bind a future board to any spending, but it is meant to serve as a guide and help outline goals for the board. It can be continuously changed and edited to better fit the needs of the community and the board.
The board discussed possible action on borrowing for capital projects. Previously, the Parks and Recreation Committee had come to the board with TRIBE’s request to redo the fourth baseball diamond at Kiwanis. This was previously where the high school team played. The field had become unusable after the high school moved to their own diamond. The project would cost around $50,000. There are additional projects that could also be improved at Kiwanis, such as additional lighting, resurfacing the tennis courts and basketball courts, and working on expanding the library into the portion of the building that was previously used as the police station.
This borrowing would be thought of as more of a borrowing for multiple recreation projects, not just for the parks. The village board approved the borrowing for capital projects for $200,000. This would result in an additional tax rate of .3570 or $125 for a home valued at $350,000. Jim Hovland made a motion to approve capital borrowing for $200,000, and it was seconded by Justin Weninger. It passed with five votes yes, one vote no.
The village will hold its next meeting on November 17, at 7:00 p.m. The village will be holding their budget open house on November 12 at 7:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m.