Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email [email protected] or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.

Dear editor,

Well, holy balls, Mayor (Katie) Rosenberg can write a letter to the editor. After years of ignoring opportunities to explain her policies in the local press, Rosenberg penned a self-congratulatory op-ed to the Wisconsin Journal Sentinel on her prowess at delivering clean water to the citizens of Wausau—perhaps as an audition for a six-figure job with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Here are a few things that Rosenberg left out of her article that the EPA or any other prospective future employer ought to know. First, Rosenberg is a spendthrift. To her, money is no object. The city of Wausau had roughly $100 million in outstanding debt when she took over. As of December 31, 2023, the city owed $274 million, including interest.

Since we have to raise water rates to the moon to pay-off that debt anyhow, why not get out the wishlist and tack-on a couple more things? For example, her latest budget also contained a 50 percent increase in staff costs at the utilities over a two year period. Even more troubling, those raises for staff were not built into the last rate case. So, we probably have not seen the end of the water rate increase.

Then there are the little things. A campaign postcard, which you may have recently received, brags about the mayor’s program to pass out filtering pitchers and bottled water. The city blew through $380,000 before the useless program was abandoned.

In addition, the city increased its taxes on the utilities. Yes, this is that infamous PILOT payment that transfers money from the utilities to the city’s general fund. Now, one-in-eight dollars that you pay on your water bill never goes to the utility at all, but rather is used by the city for police, fire protection, snow-plowing, parks, etc.

Secondly, she neglects her duties. Running the water utility is not the mayor’s only job. While she has been on the Katie Clean Water Tour other important tasks have languished. No progress on the mall. No progress on fixing the embarrassing condition of our streets. No progress on the riverfront. No major new employers. In fact, Footlocker, her former employer and a company she should have known well, moved its headquarters from Wausau to Florida without us even putting up a fight.

In sum, the costs to the citizens of Wausau for Mayor Rosenberg to be able to market herself as an environmental heroine have been extraordinary. Maybe that’s why she is peddling her story in the Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. Because if she did it here, people would know what folly the whole experience has been.

Britt Fischer of Wausau