Simple Decision

The City of Lake Mills has many policies and practices followed to provide fair and equal treatment to each person whether rich or poor, man or woman, liberal or conservative. Groups of people move in and out of the policy development and implementation processes of the City without substantial tax changes.

New Council members generally fail to initially see that changes in policy on one issue can have different effects on varying sections of the population. Small cities can have a constant policy primeval soup cooking all the time without ever mentioning policy. In one meeting here, the entire history of requiring property owners to provide their own on-site improvements to match upgrades to city facilities is now out the door by having one small influential group pressure a divided council.

The ripples into special assessments, sump pump disconnections and related privately required improvements will now need to be revisited with every program and project. Policy implications now must be applied consistently to all similarly situated residents and programs. Tax costs will rise for all residents of the city and expenses to the individual property owner will be reduced. Theoretically, this is a more socialistic practice inconsistent with the Council members' overall political motivations – which is alright if it is practiced consistently regardless of political influence. Historically, the poor have had less influence on policy decisions than the rich. Will the Council decide not to provide similar options in poorer neighborhoods? Historically, the city has treated people the same – whether rich or poor; residential, commercial or industrial – private or public. Now the soup is going to take on new dimensions that I don’t think was deeply thought about when the decision was made.

Hopefully, we judge the merits of each case as well as the power, influence, pressure and strategy of the situation.