KEWAUNEE COUNTY – The Kewaunee County Board met on Sept. 15, where they approved routine business, reviewed county operations and the 2027 budget, adopted four resolutions and scheduled future meetings and community events.

Reports

The board received the Department of Human Services report with no questions.

County Administrator Jeremy Kral began his report by recognizing Kelli and Jamie Spitzer as this quarter’s Kindness at Work honorees.

“Nominated by Wava Zirbel, Kelli and Jamie were recognized for the many ways they make a positive difference in our community. From supporting local schools, community sports, and organizations to encouraging and helping the people around them, they consistently show what it means to be good neighbors and community members,” Kral said.

After acknowledging Kelli and Jamie Spitzer for their kindness, Kral moved to discuss the county’s EMS service evaluation.

“The first step of looking at the data and defining the needs has reached its kind of logical finishing point,” Kral said. “So the next thing that the group was talking about is deciding that the county chair was going to convene a committee to work on this — to dig deeper into precisely the needs and how to address them — and make recommendations to the county board by next June.”

Once the chair appoints the subcommittee, they will meet monthly until June 2027, when they make their recommendations to the County Board.

The Bremer Park Zoo building replacement remains on track for construction in 2027 after private funding agreements, final design and county approval are completed.

The county completed purchases of the asphalt plant property and wraparound house location; lightning damaged electronics at the asphalt plant and affected road-construction progress.

Proposed 2027 budget

The introduced 2027 budget lowers the tax levy by approximately $250,000, which Kral said was due in large part to debts being paid off.

“We did not cut spending by 4.5, but the budget will look like that when you first look at it. That’s largely due to existing debt falling off of the levy, and the tax rate subsequently will fall to $3.96 per $1,000 of equalized value. Previously, it was at $4.28 per $1,000,” Kral said. “So the the tax rate has fallen significantly, driven both by sound budgeting practices, but also really strongly affected by huge leaps in equalized value as provided to us by the state.”

Kral said the budget is also lighter this year due to positions which were budgeted for, but never filled.
“That reduction is largely driven by three jailer/dispatcher positions that have been slated and budgeted, but that was related to the jail design that stalled in 2023, and has not advanced. So those positions are no longer shown as budgeted staff.”

Resolutions

The county also approved bridge aid for the Town of Luxembourg for $19,000 and the Town of West Kewaunee for $7,950, a Sheriff’s Department DOJ daily-use radio grant budget adjustment and a conduit debt fee policy; members reiterated that the county may charge administrative fees but is not obligated to support qualifying projects.

The County Board will hold its budget and general meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m.