CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – After last week’s meeting of the Wausau Water Works Commission, which Mayor Katie Rosenberg chairs, it is more likely than ever that residents will be ordered to replace lead pipes in their homes. The Water Works has asked city staff to draft an ordinance requiring it.
This is a case of legislating first, and worrying about the costs to homeowners later.
The ordinance is likely to include some provisions about how much outside funding will be available, and whether some of that funding will come in the form of grants from private foundations or forgivable loans to homeowners. This is irrelevant. Outside sources are unlikely to cover everything, and that the cost of lead pipe replacement is about $10,000 per home. So even if federal grants cover 80- or 90-percent (and that’s an optimistic amount), if you own a lead-pipe home, you’ll pay between $1,000 and $2,000 out of pocket. Do you have the money? Will you give up your summer vacation because the mayor has a lead pipe fetish?
There are two other things to keep in mind. The lead pipe replacement proposal does things the most expensive way possible, requiring lead sewage lines leading away from your home to be replaced as well. That’s nonsense. One water is flushed or goes down the drain, it’s no longer at risk of human consumption. And secondly, Wausau residents are losers in the lead pipe sweepstakes. The mayors of other cities, like Wisconsin Rapids, Stevens Point and Marshfield apparently have no interest in forcing these new costs onto their homeowners. There lies the path to being voted out of office.
Mayor Katie is a big spender. She’s already given you the most expensive water bill in the state. Now, if you own an older home, she’ll put some of the costs of lead pipe replacement onto you. Property taxes have gone up despite millions of dollars of COVID cash flowing to the city. When you decide you can no longer afford her, you’ll have to vote for someone else as mayor.
Chris Conley
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