RACINE — RAMAC President Jim Ladwig stood before the approximately 20 people gathered for Thursday night’s Racine Taxpayers Association State of Racine County meeting.
“This is one of the things we are most proud of,” Ladwig said, noting the sprawling Reefpoint Marina from the second-story view inside the Reefpoint Brew House, 2 Christopher Columbus Causeway.
“The county was on the hook to buy the marina, but this is not on the levy one cent,” he said. “Look at all of the boats out here, look at all of the people at the restaurant. This is really a success.”
Ladwig, along with current Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave and Racine County Treasurer Jane Nikolai, were invited by the Racine Taxpayers Association to share their views on the economic climate and tax health of the county.
Nikolai
The Racine County treasurer touted the county’s tax intercept policy to recover delinquent property taxes, noting that Racine is only one of three counties in the state currently doing so. Essentially, the county can decide to collect delinquent property taxes from property owners by intercepting the owed amount from their state income tax refunds.
As opposed to the tax foreclosure process, which Nikolai said can be time-consuming, costly and inefficient, Nikolai said tax intercept is a comparably kinder way to recover delinquent taxes.
A vital part of the job, Nikolai said, is researching tax law.
When a City of Racine official asked Nikolai whether a recently-proposed special assessment on property owners’ annual tax bill for sidewalk repairs was legal, she gave her advice.
“You cannot put a special assessment on a property without a direct benefit to the property owner. If they do that it will be an illegal tax and they will be fined by the Department of Revenue,” she said. “I told them that.”
Delagrave
The county executive said he’s tired of hearing that “it’s really between you and Beloit for the highest unemployment rate,” when speaking about the State Department of Workforce Development’s monthly unemployment numbers.
“There are jobs in Racine, we just don’t have a workforce that can find those jobs,” he said. “My focus on the next four years is developing a skilled workforce in Racine County … that has to be the number-one objective.”
Delagrave praised his predecessor in office, Ladwig, for the county government’s overall tax health.
“The success is really due to my predecessor. The county’s fiscal health: it’s in great shape,” he said. “Our bond rating is probably as high as it ever can be … We’re still going to be able to control our tax rate in a positive way, but we need to develop a more diversified tax base.”
Ladwig
In addition to citing Reefpoint Marina as one of the county’s many amenities people cannot take for granted, the current RAMAC president stressed the organization’s role in public policy.
“Public policy is everything from helping to negotiate the minefields with SC Johnson on Willow Road to helping the small ma and pa business get tables on the sidewalk on Main Street.”
Ladwig spoke at length on the Racine Unified School District, stressing the importance of cultivating an employable local work force here and the alluring prospect of district ambitions to create career academies at the high school level.
“If we can’t provide a work force for our employers, they’re not going to be here. It’s probably the most pressing issue with the business community,” he said.
Ladwig also took a moment to clarify RAMAC’s position on RUSD.
“Does RAMAC want to run RUSD? Absolutely not,” Ladwig said, adding that a successful school district would draw considerably less attention from the business organization.
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