Divided board OKs village budget with pared tax rate

The Grafton Village Board on Monday approved a 2019 budget that includes a one-cent decrease in the property tax rate.

By a 5-2 vote, the board adopted the $27.16 million budget, as well as a $7.8 million tax levy and tax rate of $7.19 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

That means the owner of a house assessed at $250,000 will pay $2.50 less next year.

Trustees Sue Meinecke and Lisa Uribe Harbeck voted against the budget.

“My vote is a vote of no confidence,” Meinecke said. “There is an administrative mismanagement in the way monies and people are allocated.”

Meinecke said she opposes the method of adding two full-time firefighters to the fire department, which currently has one full-time firefighter.

Fire Chief Bill Rice said three firefighters would provide around-the-clock coverage of at least one person. The two additional firefighters will be hired on staggered dates to monitor revenue trends.

Meinecke said she believes the decision was not thoroughly vetted after officials decided to reallocate $50,000 for one of the positions from the department’s budget that was previously used for village dispatching services. Those services will be transferred to Ozaukee County at the end of this year.  

Harbeck said she doesn’t support taking $10,411 from the village’s fund balance to partially finance a part-time police support specialist, a position estimated to cost $22,111.

“We have five full-time positions, and that’s more than enough to cover one person per shift,” Harbeck said, adding she is against authorizing $21,000 in overtime for the other police support specialist positions.

Police Chief Charles Wenten said he expects two of the specialists to resign by the end of the year and that another member plans to go on family and medical leave.

“We have some paradigm shifts,” Village President Jim Brunnquell said.

“Our direction fiscally is very conservative and responsible. This tax rate is going down,  and this is a successful budget.”