By Shereen Siewert
WESTON — Debt per capita for the village of Weston will shrink by more than 32 percent in a two year span, budget projections show.
Wausau Finance Director MaryAnn Groat on Tuesday presented city council members with Wausau’s debt projections, comparing those to other municipalities. The packet of information showed the village of Weston with a debt per capita of $3,032, significantly higher than Wausau’s end of 2017 projection of $2,599.
But the debt per capita numbers from other municipalities, as presented to the council, are from 2015, Groat told Wausau Pilot & Review on Thursday. The year was not specified in the documents issued to the council.
That matters because Weston has lowered debt significantly since 2015, Administrator Daniel Guild told Wausau Pilot & Review. Groat did not contact Weston’s finance department to verify figures, Guild said.
Weston’s general obligation debt limit is projected to be 13.24 percent by the end of 2017, the lowest in more than 20 years, according to village documents.
Wausau’s general obligation debt limit was nearly 58 percent at the end of 2016 and is projected to grow to nearly 75 percent in 2017 unless the city eliminates or restructures some of its debt, according to Groat’s presentation.
Debt per capita in Weston dropped by nearly 16 percent in 2016 to $2,554 and is projected to drop even further in 2017. An estimate prepared May 10 shows the village will carry a per capita debt of $2,060 by the end of the year.
“Our general obligation debt limit for the village of Weston is estimated to be 13.24 percent as of Dec. 31, 2017, the lowest level since the village was incorporated in 1996,” Guild wrote, in an email to Wausau Pilot & Review.
A general obligation bond (GO) is a municipal bond backed by the credit and taxing power of the issuing jurisdiction rather than the revenue from a specific project. General obligation bonds are meant to be paid through taxation or revenue from projects.
The Wausau City Council will consider a refinancing plan on Tuesday.
Mary Anne Groat gets caught again giving out false/outdated information. Sad part is the current Council has nobody on it to research her misinformation
to them. Without the Keene Winters, Dave Oberbecks, Deb Hadleys, Matt Kaisers, Tom Millers, Christine VanDeYachts –there is nobody left to research
Mary Ann’s data she presents. The current Council Follows blindly. Thank you Shereen for getting info. from Weston showing correct data and to put
Mary Ann caught once again. And, Mayor Meilke thinks Wausau is in good shape financially –what has he been smoking. where is the Wausau Daily Herald
or City Pages covering this info. — guess they want to be loved by City Fathers. I ask all to pass http://www.wausaupilotandreview.com to all your email lists to
get this site in their daily reviews. Finally a great Wausau News Source. Plus –contribute!
Mr. Hadley, I beg to differ.
There is on member of the council who consistently votes against the current reckless spending by the city. Perhaps you should do some additional RESEARCH before you paint all council members with the same broad brush.
I respect Dennis Smith’s no votes –you are right he voted no and was the only one. But, without Shereen & Keene’s detailed information nobody would know
the correct information usually after the fact/vote —not presented at Council Meetings to refute Mary Ann’s numbers given. We have nobody presenting information/doing their research to expose what Shereen/Keene dug out. We no longer have Council Members who are business people who dig in to
into facts presented. Keene Winter’s does, Dave Oberbeck did, Shereen does, –as did previous Council Business Person’s like Matt Kaiser, Deb Hadley,
Steve Foley, Christine Van De Yacht. Other than Dennis Smith’s no votes the rest follow/believe blindly. I hope many find http://www.wausaupilotandreview.com
to get the facts —and contact their Alderpersons for answers to this data. Thanks to Shereen she looks into numbers presented for accuracy –which should embarrass Mary Ann and other Council Members. Dennis Smith is 1 of 11 —- but he still needs to research and present facts to refute numbers given.
Dennis knows Wausau’s Debt is out of control — scary the other 10 do not! Or the Mayor. What’s you opinion Simon? It’s important that we all expose what
is happening. Thanks for your response — and thank you Dennis for your willing to vote no and not rubber stamping the mess about to come!
Mr. Hadley,
I totally agree with your position on Wausau’s debt situation and concerned citizens like Mr. Winters do all of us a tremendous service by pulling back the curtain on the goings on down at city hall.
It is a fact that unless we get a dramatic change in the make up of the city council during the next election cycle it will be business as usual at city hall.
The Council makeup will not change. You can not get people to run for office –other than many in need of the $6000 income. Under Tipple he solicited
candidates –non-business people —who were supported by Teachers Union (as is your School board)— who would be a rubber stamp for his unlimited
spending. And, it continues. It’s even more of a joke when you have Tom Neal and Pat Peckham both working/writing for the Liberal City Pages. Why would
any businessperson want to continue to serve/be beat up being in the minority/being a target like Keene Winters, Dave Oberbeck, Matt Kaiser, Deb Hadley,
Steve Foley, Cristine Van De Yacht, others. Council Person Joe Gehin worked for the City. Joe Gehin was Tipple’s close friend and also worked for Ghidorzi.
He was Tipple’s inside person when he ran against Linda Lawrence. Council Person Romey Wagner is the Manager of the City Business Incubator. And, the connections go on. You have no more budget hawks on the Council. (other than Dennis Smiths no votes). We needed a Keene Winter’s as Mayor. Hard to believe the Council at one time was practically all business people working for nothing(Under Kannenberg) –and for fiscal responsibility. And, we had some great finance people like Erney Cherny, Don Schultz, Dawn Kohn in administration. You never saw a budget deficit/overrun back then. And, we now have
a weak/non-local newspaper(WDH) —- with inconsistant local gov’t coverage due to local staff cutbacks — and the want to be included in the local insider
life — and thus many local controversial topics never get reported. That’s why we need to get the word out about http://www.wausaupilotandreview.com. The WDH/City Pages surely has helped select your recent Mayors. They surely helped defeat Keene Winters & Deb Hadley. They helped create what we have today. Amen.
Some concerned citizens need to step up to the plate of quit bitching. We surely have a sufficient business people in Wausau that can run for city council. Another matter we have to address is the 3 council members who also serve on the county board. They are either truly dedicated to serving th community or they just need the money. I am betting they need the money.