County supervisors pass ordinance regulating cell phone towers

By Steve Van Kooten

In October, the Crawford County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed an ordinance that modified the regulations for mobile tower placement.

According to Dave Troester, Crawford County’s Conservationist, the county’s long-standing ordinance has been gutted by state laws that supercede the county’s control.

“Essentially, we passed an ordinance 20-some years ago. I think the ordinance we currently have was last updated in 2007. In 2014, the state passed legislation that eliminated most of what was in our current ordinance.”

“There’s quite a lengthy list of things,” he told the board. “It’s kind of just meant to be a little more welcoming to cell phone towers.”

An informational memo from the Wisconsin Legislative Council notes that the state’s 2013 Biennial Budget Act allows counties to regulate cell phone towers under zoning ordinances but also places “strict limits” in how those restrictions can be applied.

The new ordinance was brought before the county board in 2014 and voted down.

“So, we’ve been using our previous ordinance without being able to legally enforce part of it,” Troester said.

According to Troester, the new ordinance makes Crawford County’s regulations “99 percent” similar to those held by surrounding counties, including Grant, Vernon and Iowa counties. It defines processes for new tower construction and provides incentives for towers to host more than one provider.

“The purpose is, essentially, to promote collocation,” Troester told the Courier Press. “We don’t want 50 towers pepppered on the landscape if we could have 25 towers with two antennas on each.”

He added that the ordinance favors collocation and sets up requirements for owners to prove that a new tower is the best option available.

He also said that, in the past seven years, one cell phone tower was proposed in Crawford County, and a small amount of existing towers added new providers.

Troester received a call from an AT&T representative concerned about the ordinance.

“It was mostly in regards to removing abandoned towers within 180 days and also the requirement for a bond,” he said.

When a tower placement is approved, the owners have to submit a $20,000 bond to cover its removal if the owners “walked away.”

County borrowing

The county approved borrowing and to obtain bids for capital improvement during the meeting.

The borrowing included $850,000 for the highway department.

“In the past—at least, in the last three years—as part of the budget process, we’ve approved a short-term borrowing of $500,000,” said Finance Committee Chair Gary Koch.

This year the amount has increased because the county is struggling to get their budget under their levee limit. The extra $350,000 came from the highway budget as well.

The highway department has approximately $1 million in their budget each year for equipment needs, according to Koch.

“Basically, we’re saying we’re going to take that $850,000 out of their budget and borrow for it,” Koch told the Courier Press. “What that allows us to do is keep that $850,000 in the highway budget, and we’ve avoided the levee limit.”

He added that the county borrows the money because the highway department has consistently needed equipment or project expenses that are eligible for borrowing.

“It’s really an accounting move because what happens is that we borrow the money here in the late fall, and we turn around and pay it back right after the first of the year,” Koch told the board. “The reason for doing it is that debt service does not come under the levee limit.”

He clarified that the borrowed money will be used for qualifying projects and expenses.

“I’m hoping that at some point the state will realize the difficulties that municipalities in Wisconsin are having trying to get under the levee limit because it’s just not sustainable.”

Koch said that inflation and the state’s restrictions on counties’ ability to raise their levee have put Crawford in a difficult position. 

“We’ve been using some of our fund balance, but you can’t do that forever,” he said.

Koch added that he has brought up the issue to State Senator Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), who is chair of the Wisconsin State Senate’s finance committee.

The board also moved to obtain bids for capital improvements in the amount of $203,000.

“This again is a move to pull out some expenses that would normally be in our operation and maintenance budget so that we can get under the levee limit,” said Koch.

The improvements include purchasing a riding lawnmower, IT equipment, squad cars for the sheriff’s department and some “small” dispatch equipment.

The term for the bids does not exceed seven years.

Supervisor Craig Anderson asked if these borrowing moves will compromise the county’s bond rating.

“No, it’s not,” answered Koch. “If there’s one thing that the county has done a terrific job at, one of the things is not borrowing a lot of money.”

He called the county’s financial strategy a “pay as you go” model.

“This is a small amount of money; we’ll be paying it back quickly,” he said.

Other than the jail project, the county does not have a significant amount of debt service, and even with that large project on the ledger, the county is in a strong borrowing position, according to Koch.

“You can borrow up to five percent of your equalized value, and in the county’s case, that is about $93 million,” he said.

Koch estimated the county currently has about $37 million in debt service.

Other business

• The county’s fair coordinator resigned on October 18. According to Supervisor Craig Anderson, the news came as a shock to the fair board, who will begin looking for a replacement.

• U.S. Congressman Derrick Van Orden (R-Prairie du Chien) appeared before the board for a legislative update. He encouraged the county to seek federal funding for projects. He said that only three projects were forwarded to him in Crawford County. He touted obtaining $50 million for the district during his time in office.

• The next County Board of Supervisors meeting will be held on November 12.