Town to take another stab at internet grants

Town of Saukville officials will again seek grants that would pay for supplying all town residents with high-speed internet access, which many rural households in Ozaukee County lack.

Town Chairman Kevin Kimmes said Tuesday the town plans to apply for $2.2 million in grants in October or November, with $1 million coming from Charter Communications and $1.2 million from the state. The town would ante up $200,000 in matching funds.

The town applied for a similar grant last year but lost out to other communities.

Kimmes said the chances of the town being awarded the grant may be better this time.

“There are a lot of people applying. We’re doing the best we can,” he said.

One thing that might help would be if Ozaukee County contributed to the effort, he said.

“That would make it an intergovernmental effort, and that would probably  improve our chances,” Kimmes said.

The town hoped to tap into some of the $17 million the county received in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, but those dollars went to support county capital projects, emergency medical services and nonprofit groups.

The lack of high-speed internet in the county’s rural areas has long been an issue, the severity of which was heightened during the pandemic when many people were forced to work from home.

It’s also a concern for businesses that seek to operate in rural areas.

Kimmes and Town of Port Washington Chairman Mike Didier said one recent development involves the availability in rural areas of Starlink, the brainchild of entrepreneur Elon Musk, that allows homes and businesses to connect to the internet via satellite.

“I personally know a handful of people (in the town) who are getting it,” Didier said. “It seems to be picking up.”

Kimmes said the same thing is happening in the Town of Saukville.

“We have heard from a lot of people about Starlink. There’s been chatter about it,” he said.

Kimmes himself subscribes to Starlink, saying he went from paying $70 for two or three megabits per second for his former service to paying $120 for 100 megabits. The antenna costs $600.

“I can actually work from home now,” he said.

A state Public Service Commission map showing the extent of broadband service in the state shows most rural areas in northern Ozaukee County have internet speeds of 25 megabits per second, which is considered high speed, and some others with speeds of 5 or 10.

Officials argue, however, those maps are not accurate and need to be redone.

“The maps the state are using are not correct,” county Supr. Tom Winker of the Town of Belgium told the County Board last week after County Administrator Jason Dzwinel told supervisors that the county recently received a $20,000 state grant to address the issue.

“First thing we need to do with that money is get some accurate maps,” Winker said.

The state has launched a survey of Wisconsin households “designed to capture the complexity of residents’ experience with internet service or lack thereof, so Ozaukee County and the Wisconsin Broadband Office can accurately understand a variety of broadband needs,” according to a county press release.

Dzwinel said the Ozaukee Economic Development office will likely help lead the effort locally.

“Our draft plan with the Ozaukee Economic Development Corp. is to use the survey data to plan targeted focus groups for businesses and residential areas that are underserved,” he said in an email. “After these events we plan to hold a broadband event to discuss options for improving access in the underserved areas of Ozaukee County.”

The survey is available at https://maps.psc.wi.gov/apps/WISER/index.html or by phone at (608) 261-6026.

County residents can get more information about the survey by calling Dzwinel’s office at (262) 238-8202.

The federal government recently announced that the state of Wisconsin is in line to receive more than $1 billion to expand broadband as part of a sweeping infrastructure bill signed into law in 2021.

Officials have said it’s difficult to say how close the federal dollars will bring the state to that goal and that it likely will require state and local matches.