Pelican board to ask residents for tax levy increase

The Pelican town board, at its Sept. 22 meeting, took up the matter of town roads. 

Town chairman Nick Scholtes said at the current rate at which the town was able to perform road repairs, it would take 72 years to get through all of the roads that needed to be repaired, as the town was currently able to repair one mile of road per year. Without extra money, it would be a losing battle to keep the town roads in good condition.

“We’re currently $6 million behind on capital costs, which would be actually repaving the roads, and $1 million behind on maintenance costs, which would be the chip seal, crack seal, repairing shoulders, things of that nature — is where we’re at right now,” he said. 

If the town would have to replace all of their roads today, he said, it would come at a cost of approximately $14.5 million. 

“I thought we should at least bring it up and see if the residents are interested in it,” Scholtes said of a possible increase to the tax levy, which would be a total of $200,000. That would equate to approximately $62 per $100,000 of assessed value. 

“It’s not something anybody really wants to do,” he said. 

The funds from the levy could be used for maintenance to at least help the town preserve the roads that are in good condition. 

In addition to repaving approximately one mile of road per year, this would allow protection of an additional two miles per year, approximately, through chip sealing and maintenance.

Scholtes wanted to ask for the levy increase now so it could be assessed in 2026. The town is slated for a full reassessment to go into effect in 2027, and he did not want to see an increase in taxes because of the assessment compounded by the levy to be used to help with road maintenance. He said there was no other place to try to increase road maintenance, and agreed that this one year of a levy would not be a be all to end all.

“We’re kind of in a pickle, because it’s not going to solve the problem long term,” he said. 

Without additional funding, roads would continue to deteriorate.

“It’s one of those deals where we’re danged if we do and danged if we don’t, but it’s truly up to the citizens,” Scholtes told the board. 

He asked board members if they thought of asking the citizens if they would approve a levy increase.

“I think we almost have to,” board member Wally Dahlquist said. 

The board wanted to meet again on Monday, Sept. 29 to approve a resolution for the levy and to set the date for a special meeting of the electors to weigh in on the idea.

The board then planned to take the matter up after their Oct. 20 meeting, and planned to hold the special public meeting at that time.

After the meeting and a conversation with the Wisconsin Towns Association, Scholtes reported back that there simply would not be enough time to give the proper notice and hold the meeting in time for the 2026 budget to be approved. The matter would be moved to at least next year, or possibly 2027.

Possible PFAS committee

Nancy Sattler of the Moen Lake Chain brought the idea of an inter-town PFAS committee to the Pelican town board. The idea, she said, came from Stella town chairman Casey Crump. He had expressed interest in creating a committee of either board members of town residents from Stella, Pine Lake and Pelican as well as representation from the Moen Lake Chain and possibly the local health department to address the issue of PFAS and to get answers for the residents who have been told their well were affected, those who still have not received their wells test results and other residents who were concerned about the findings.

The Moen Lake Chain Association, Sattler said, was “blind-sided,” by a recent press release from the Department of Natural Resources containing fish and deer consumption advisories for the Town of Stella and the Moen Lake Chain. 

“Our members are surprised and concerned about the new findings and the statewide media coverage they received due to lack of communication, evidence and transparency enjoyed with the DNR for many years,” the letter stated. “We have received numerous phone calls and emails from concerned citizens, multiple businesses ranging from taverns to prestigious nationwide summer camps to musky tournament coordinators for the chain, all verbalizing their deep concerns with these new ‘findings.’”

The letter further requested a town hall meeting to confirm whether there had been additional testing and if that testing was the impetus behind these new consumption advisories. 

Sattler expressed her frustration to the board and said she would be the representative from the Moen Lake Chain on the committee. She spoke about her frustration as well as the frustration and fear other residents were feeling.

“One of our resort owners put their place up for sale three days after that press release came out,” she said. “They don’t want to have to be telling people about fish consumption advisories.” 

Some people, she said, had told her they would continue to eat fish out of the lake and to swim and recreate just as they had for the last 40 years. Other people said they absolutely would not. In the end, she said, she just wanted answers.

“They’re picking on us, and we don’t know why,” she said as the discussion turned to all of the water bodies to which the Moen Lake Chain was connected.

“Does that mean all of those are affected, too?” asked Dahlquist. “Common sense would seem to dictate that a compound found in a waterbody would also be found in downstream waterbodies, even if in lesser concentrations, for instance, as when it reached the Wisconsin River.”

But, he said, he certainly didn’t feel it would be isolated to the Moen Lake Chain.

“It’s going to affect a lot of things,” Sattler said. “It’s going to affect property values. And what about the camp? If you’re a parent in Chicago and you hear that on the news, are you going to send your kid up here to camp?”

Sattler told Scholtes Crump would likely be reaching out to him regarding the committee and said it would be up to the board whether they wanted board members on the committee, or if they wanted to appoint concerned citizens to the board, but she said she hoped they would get involved. 

Scholtes said he would welcome a conversation with Crump, as he felt it was not just a problem contained to Stella.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].