Rib Mountain
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – There’s a lot to like about Rib Mountain. It’s struck an excellent balance between shopping, housing, and open space. The proposed Tax Increment Finance District would change that. Residents are right to oppose it. And the Village Board did the right thing by voting it down this week.
Rib Mountain Drive is the premiere shopping zone in Central Wisconsin, with all of the area’s big box stores, smaller specialty stores, and restaurants well represented. It’s busy, but not overwhelmingly so.
Rib Mountain State Park and Bluegill Park are the best parks in the region. Bluegill is open to everyone, for free. Both have tremendous amenities for those who love the outdoors.
The rest of Rib Mountain is full of housing – and a housing stock that is the envy of surrounding communities. Housing options range from smaller, starter homes to hilltop mansions.
If I were a Rib Mountain resident, I’d want things to stay the way they are. I’d be skeptical of plans to open a new corridor, along County Road NN, to development. People who live in the Tax Increment Zone don’t want the new development that would come with a TID, nor do they want the increased traffic, or the mandated hook-ups to any water and sewer lines that are installed in their neighborhood. Most people choose to live there because they like it the way it is.
There is also a basic truth about government at all levels: state, local and federal. More revenue always leads to more spending. Lets suppose that the TID district is successful at attracting new development, and the village’s coffers swell by an extra $2- or $3-million. You can be certain that the Rib Mountain will suddenly have at least that much in new needs. And that assumes that the 12% of taxes that are now dedicated to the new district doesn’t upset the village’s overall revenue.
I’d suggest that Rib Mountain is close-to-perfect as it is right now. Village leaders made the right choice this week not to change it.
Chris Conley
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