This May Answer Some Questions

Local governments have two distinct activities. The first is "governance", which includes determining what to provide, how to provide it and how to finance it. Second is the actual production and delivery of services and the implementation and enforcement of regulations.

The cost of governance in Lake Mills is generally less than 5 percent of the local government budget. Of this the costs of council constitute about 1 percent, with the remainder devoted to a variety of participatory activities and policy making by administrative staff. The other 95 percent of local government spending is devoted to the production and delivery of services and the implementation and enforcement of regulations.