A referendum for a one-time VHT would be a better option than County Administrator Ken Pabich's $50 million debt-share plan
Quoting from Emily Small's September 14, 2023 Door County Knock article, "County presents sober living options at budget planning workshop”:
The county could issue the overall debt for each municipality to upgrade and provide universal broadband internet service to its residents, he said. Each participating municipality would enter into an intergovernmental agreement to pay back the county for its respective share of the estimated total debt amount of $50,145,000, Pabich explained.
https://doorcountyknock.org/2023/09/county-presents-sober-living-options-at-budget-planning-workshop
An alternative to using debt is to fund the $50,145,000 with a VHT (Vacant Homes Tax).
42.9% of Door County residences were vacant: https://data.census.gov/table?q=Door+County,+Wisconsin&t=Vacancy:Vacancy+Characteristics:Vacancy+Rates&tid=ACSCP5Y2021.CP04
In 2022, the assessed valuation for all Door County residences was $6,532,104,300: https://public.tableau.com/shared/X2F7JMH4H?:display_count=n&:origin=viz_share_link
42.9% of $6,532,104,300 is $2.8 billion. A $50 million dollar assessment on the $2.8 billion would come out to a rate of 0.0179 per dollar of assessed value. The owners of a $400,000 seasonal cottage would get a one-time tax bill of $7,158, in addition to their ordinary property tax.
The exact figures would be different because valuations keep rising, and it is likely that the total valuation of the vacant homes is actually greater than 42.9% of the total valuation of all Door County residences. Also, a small fraction of the 42.9% would probably be exempted from the VHT for certain legitimate reasons, such as if the owner is in a nursing home. These factors could bring the rate for the one-time VHT up or down a bit.
The county could put a one-time VHT proposal to the public as a referendum in the spring election. If voters approve, it would be submitted to the state legislature for their approval.
Getting it passed by the legislature would be harder, but it would work to Door County’s favor that both Sen. Andre Jacque and Rep. Joel Kitchens are experienced politicians who carry clout in their respective houses. If they could be persuaded to back it, at least some of the Republicans would trust them enough to go along with it. That Democratic members ought to support a tax that affects wealthier people should be assumed, and between a portion of the Republicans and all of the Democrats, it could reach the Governors’ desk.
One reason to think that Governor Evers would sign a bill allowing Door County to carry out a one-time VHT is that he sided against the seasonal homeowners in the Wisconsin Indian Hostage Crisis: https://thefederalist.com/tag/lac-du-flambeau/.
Once enacted, seasonal residents could pay their taxes, and universal broadband could be rolled out without increasing debt obligations.
https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lrb/wisconsin_elections_project/ballot_initiative_referendum_1_1.pdf#page=6 indicates that counties can put out both advisory and binding referendums. It might get the state government’s attention better if it was positioned as a binding referendum, but voting on a binding referendum might get held up in a court by unhappy seasonal homeowners. Because the need of maintaining political momentum, I think an advisory referendum would be the most prudent choice.
Such a path would take longer to complete than issuing debt, but it would help solve two problems at the same time. It would improve internet infrastructure while at the same time dampening destructive residential real estate speculation.
Possible outcomes of this path could include the voters rejecting it, or the voters passing it, but the state refusing to pass it.
If the voters reject it, then ordinary bonding could still be implemented. But if the state refuses to pass it, there might be ways to apply pressure more broadly, such as by coordinating a request for VHT legislation from other areas of the state with a high residential vacancy rate.
Other posts relating to the Vacant Home Tax
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/vacant-home-tax
Other election or districting related posts:
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/election-or-districting-related