NEAT STUFF

Clark Gable left his mustache at home with the rest of his body when he sent his minions in to present a utility rate increase request into the city.

Yes, the inimitable Dan Winkler, Supreme Allied Commander and Grand Wizard of the Lake Geneva Utility Department is asking for more money.
How much more?
How about thirty-four percent (34%) more!
There has not been a utility rate increase for twenty-five years.
There’s that.
The problem with thinking that because there hasn’t been a rate increase in so long that one is overdue, is easily demonstrated to be flawed when you consider that the percentage has stayed the same even as incomes have gone up. So the amount of money going to the utility department has increased along with the increase in income. Raising the rate by fully one third is nothing short of outrageous, and should be heartily denied.
This same department, with the same man, in charge, has used collected utility revenues to build parks, and even a bocce ball court, for the Catholic Church.
No, just say no!
If your elected representatives says yes, then say no to them in the next election.
Or better yet, recall them.
Yes, it is about the money!

Lake Geneva’s debt. It’s more than seven million dollars! $7,000,000
When you get done reading through all the paperwork, you realize it is mostly written to keep the public from understanding that. Who’s responsible for this obfuscation, why isn’t that debt ever brought up when new projects for spending are being considered?
Blather.
Yes, blather.
The leaders of Lake Geneva, previously, have simply buried the debt under piles of paper. Spending is somehow allowed when pleasing little phrases like the TIF#4 fund are used. “Mystery money.” But it’s not really. It’s collected tax revenue money taken from the pockets of the people reading this article, right now. TIF money has been set aside to pay the new, private owner, of the theater so he can fix it up, and make money.
And it’s being creatively diverted to support the potential new owner of the Trevor Hotel. Why can’t some of these creative financial wizards leading Lake Geneva figure out a sneaky way to divert that TIF money to pay off the debt?
If they get caught pulling off a fast one doing that, it would be close to impossible to get a jury of local people to convict them!

There is a quirk in Lake Geneva’s definition of a resident.
There are two kinds of residents: (“Residents” and “Permanent Residents”).
“Residents” are those who actually reside in Lake Geneva,
and “Permanent Residents” (not those buried in Oak Hill Cemetery) are people who have the right to reside at some location within the City limits of the City of Lake Geneva (whether or not they reside there). I have been told that this “Permanent Resident” definition was put into Lake Geneva’s ordinances so that people who do not live in Lake Geneva, can have jobs in Lake Geneva that require them to be a “Permanent Resident” in Lake Geneva.
So by merely renting a room from someone, even if they don’t ever live there, they meet the “Permanent Resident” requirement.
This is not fiction, it’s the quirk in the city’s ordinances and residency requirement for certain jobs.
Yes, a person could be a “Permanent Resident” of the City of Lake Geneva, and not live in Wisconsin.

Neat Stuff and Neat People

One of Lake Geneva’s own although he hails from England where he distinguished himself as a officer in the British Army. Tim Atherden, writer, philosopher, poet and oh so good at Latin. A man of class and letters. Usually to be found having coffee at the Geneva Java and laying in wait for interesting characters (like him) to come along.

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