You and me are really great people.  Why is that?  Well, we seem to help bail out just about everything that bangs on Washington's door.

A short time ago, the sub-prime mortgage companies received their bail out; likely the first of their bail outs since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still in the throes of that mess.

Now the automobile industry is in the queue for what yesterday was about $25 billion and today has already climbed to $40 billion according to the press.

Is this a proper use for the tax dollars that are extracted from each of us?  Should we be funding these bail outs for industries that essentially have gone bad because of their own doing?  If you or me were responsible for these 'disasters', we'd probably step up to the plate and take what was coming to us.  But we didn't force people to be too gullible and let people sell them homes they couldn't afford.  We didn't cause the oil price jump because we didn't approve new refineries for thirty years or drill for new fields of oil?

If any of us should be paying 'the price', it seems that the finger of blame needs to be pointed at Washington and the people we send there to represent us.  That group has caused these issues to surface through favors to those putting money into their campaign accounts.  That group has caved in to the environmental groups that are fanatical to the extreme in their pursuit of the ultimate goal they espouse.

Oh, that's right.  We are to blame because we continue to return the same people to Washington in spite of what they do and don't do.  We don't require any 'reparations' for their actions.

Maybe we all need to get a little more involved and a little more vocal starting with our upcoming local elections.  Too may of us simply shake our heads and fume; we really need to be more active in our precincts and districts and villages or cities, and in our counties and states.

I saw a quote in the past few days that went along these lines:  "Too many people have died for our freedoms for us to not vote."

Why is it that at the bottom of too many discussions about rate increases or tax increases we find a series of initials?  It apparently isn't enough that we are forced to deal with the MATC.  We also are saddled with the MMSD.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District (MMSD) hit our village and other taxing entities with a significant increase in capital expense contributions that it requires from its 'customers'.  Its 'customers', of course have no other options.  So like other communities, Germantown has had to 'pony up'.  We've been depleting the sewer fund reserves to the tune of nearly $1 million each year over the past three years, and our reserves are going down as the result.  The idea of a reserve is that there will be adequate funds available in reserve if needed due to some unforeseen situation. 

The long and short is that we'll likely face an increase in sewer charges due to these charges laid on us by MMSD.

MMSD, like MATC, is governed by an appointed board.  These eleven people include village/city officials, elected representatives, and others whose names seem to always be involved in such appointed positions.  You and I do not have any representation on the MMSD board over which we exercise even indirect control.  The citizens of Germantown should, by now, be resigned to our fate...except there has to be a better way.

I challenge one or more of the current crop of candidates for state positions to pledge their best efforts to change this system.  Every appointed board in the state should be subjected to thorough review to determine if direct elections are a more appropriate way to determine those who'll be seated.  We have heard that some are willing to look at the mechanism for governance of the State Technical College System.

There really must be a top down review of every similar entity in Wisconsin, and it ought to be very rigorous...not simply a 'lip service' group convened with foregone conclusions from day one!

We are, by all signs, involved in an oil cost run-up driven by demand being greater than supply.  It is exacerbated for us Americans because our monetary policy has seen an intentional softening of the dollar (our money is worth less than other peoples' money, so it takes more of it to buy a barrel of crude oil).  I paid $4.20 per gallon yesterday with the price of crude oil standing at about $130 +/- per barrel.  Predictions of crude oil prices of $150 per barrel or more are seen or heard regularly now.  And, the cost of oil could well be higher than that by year-end.

How did we get to this point?  We got there by congressional law making, by presidents rolling over and signing those bills, and by our country's increasing needs/demand for gasoline and diesel fuel.  Why would we permit ourselves to become part of such a quagmire?

Politics!  Politics played by those on both sides of the aisle.  Conservatives seem to have lost their voices.  Liberals never seem to lose their voices.

Laws were re-written more than thirty years ago to make it nearly impossible for a new refinery to be built.  Those were the result of congress being rolled by the environmentalists and presidents either believing the rhetoric of the day or fearing the backlash should they stand up to the rhetoric.  This has continued to this very day.  We are forbidden from drilling within 200 miles of the California and Florida coastlines but the Chinese are already doing so as we sit on our thumbs.  We are unable to pursue the shale oil deposits that span our northern plains and southwestern states.  We have ample untapped resources that are readily available but our laws don't permit us to make use of those resources.

We see the 'global warming' group and the 'environmentalist group' driving our economy into the ground...and we have not found the moral outrage/courage to stand up to them and say "no more"!  We could easily build new refineries in any number of locations around our country but we're not permitted to do so.  We know how to drill and refine today without ruining our world.  It takes from 6 to 10 years to bring a new refinery on-line so the time to have declared a moratorium on the rules that made it impossible to build new refining capacity has come and gone.  But, the typical congressional response of "that will take ten years" should remind us that if we don't roll back those silly laws today, it'll take ten years from whenever we do roll back those silly laws.  The time to begin is now, not next week or next month.

We witnessed the ridiculous 'hearings' held by congress in the past few weeks.  We watched as Sen. Herb Kohl embarrassed himself by chiding the 'big bad oil companies' for making a profit.  He is a former businessman who certainly understands that profit must be derived in order for businesses to exist and grow.  He knew how that worked when he ran Kohl's Food Stores.  He certainly must have some comprehension as the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks.  His statement to the oil company executives that their profits didn't seem fair gives one a lot of insight.  He knows better but he will play/pander to the crowd he favors.  He 'feels' as do most liberals.  He doesn't necessarily reason.  He has his millions, so he can set out to control everyone else who aspires to similar success.

Sen. Kohl is but one of the 535 members of congress.  Too many of those men and women are too intent on keeping their offices to actually vote the way they probably know they should.  You have probably heard the old phrase that states you must "go along to get along".  That should be inscribed over the doorways leading to the House and the Senate chambers since it is the rule that is followed by the vast majority of people who walk through those portals.  That is true on the national stage, the state stage and the local stage.

The people who go to Washington and who do not give in and play by the Washingtonian rules are few and very far between.

Whose fault is this dilemma in the final analysis?  Yours and mine. 

We're the men and women who have permitted this to happen.  We don't vote in the House or the Senate, but we do elect those who do...and we do not seem to unelect people very often once they've gotten into office.  Rep. Steve Kagen (D) from the Appleton area stands for re-election this November.  He is at his most defeatable point historically.  If he survives the first re-election campaign and keeps his seat, he is likely to be in that seat for so long as he desires without regard to how he votes or doesn't vote.

We're so unconcerned about our vote, it seems, that we don't even think voting is sacrosanct enough to require valid photo identification before we're permitted to cast a ballot. 

So, all this angst has been brought to us by us.  Remember that the next time you buy gasoline or diesel fuel.  Remember that the next time you go to the grocery store and try to make your food budget stretch.  Remember that when you ponder whether or not you'll be able to take a vacation this year, or buy new school clothing for your children, or go out for a fish fry.  Remember that when you try to stretch your retirement income to cover your basic needs.

And, when you've gotten yourself all 'cranked up', if that happens, make a resolution to get involved and stay involved and to talk with your elected representatives at every level of government and let them know what you think and what you want them to do on your behalf.  And, if they fail you, fire them with your vote at the polling place.

Had you and I done that two decades ago instead of simply going with the flow, maybe we'd not be in the situation we find ourselves in today.

The MATC has developed yet another draft budget after the first such exercise produced the need for a 6.4% property tax increase (see Blog of April 23rd).  At the time of that budget draft, the governor apparently said he would not countenance such an increase.  MATC announced then that it would go back to the old drawing board and see what could be done to get down into the range of 'as little' as a 5.0% to 5.5% property tax increase.

Guess what?  They can now apparently declare victory in this onerous task since the finance committee is only proposing a revised draft budget that would consume another 4.9% increase in property taxes.  The proposed draft will come to a vote by the full board on May 27th.

MATC has developed budgets since 2004 that will have caused property tax increases of more than 30% if this draft is ultimately approved.

Has your personal income increased by 30% in the past four years?  Has your savings account grown by 30% in the past four years?  Has yours become a single income family instead of a dual income family in the past four years?  I doubt it.  But, if so, congratulations!  Even with such an increase, if that has happened for you, I'll wager that you have better places to put your hard-earned money.

The MATC finance committee says it has cut all it could cut from the budget.  Jeannette Bell, committee member and former West Allis mayor, was in favor of not only this 4.9% property tax increase, but also favors reducing the reserve account held by MATC which has been done as part of this draft. 

People costs are budgeted to increase significantly.  Wages and salaries will go up about $1.5 million.  Health care costs will rise by some $2 million.  Other 'fringe' benefits will add another $4.5 million, including  $2 million required to bring the recognition of accrued benefits onto the MATC books like any other 'business' must do today.  That is $2 million of 'funny money'; where else would we find accounting tricks employed if we were to subject this institution to the standards maintained by businesses?

I cannot accept the statement that MATC has cut 'everything possible' and still needs this kind of increase budget over budget.  The paragraph above suggests to me that people costs are way too high, and a very quick way to achieve reductions there is to have fewer people.  Maybe MATC should think about outsourcing certain functions.  Maybe they should think about 'tough love' negotiations with union representatives.  There are or ought to be limits even for tax-funded entities.

Maybe MATC needs to review its class demand and determine the bottom third by attendance and end those classes.  If there is insufficient demand, there is apparently not an identifiable 'significant' need.  MATC cannot be providing services to a market that doesn't exist in sufficient numbers to show demand.  That would free up space for other uses, and it would, or should, enable staff cuts that will reduce costs.

It is impossible to forget, in this debate over MATC, that there is a very real problem with the Milwaukee schools system and we must recognize that some of MATC's costs should rightfully be paid for by the Milwaukee school system since MATC is mopping up after that dismal performance.  Adult high school education classes and GED classes are an example of how the public education structure in Milwaukee fails its students and the residents of the community.  Interestingly enough, this may well be an intended consequence rather than an unintended consequence.  It gets non-Milwaukee taxpayers to pay more of the Milwaukee education costs than is already done through state tax distribution formula.

Finally, I suggest once again that MATC needs to clean up its many acts.  It needs to get out of the failed business incubator function.  It needs to quit building physical monuments to itself and its leaders.  It needs to look at sale and lease-back arrangements.  It needs to reduce staff. 

Frankly, it is becoming more and more apparent that significant leadership changes may be required, as well.  MATC leadership seems to be ignorant of the public's needs.  This is an institution answerable to no one other than the governor through his ability to appoint members to the state technical college board.  The state legislature and the governor must act to bring this renegade system under absolute control.  There must be a change in the manner in which the state board and the district boards are created; voters need to determine who sits on those boards.  The current incestuous approach simply doesn't work...for anyone other than the leaders and those who sit on the rubber stamp boards.

All this brings me to the next obvious question:  Where do we stand in the quest for permission to move to another technical college district?  There seems to have been a long delay in the process; maybe it is justified.  I hope it doesn't mean that the movement has been quietly put to sleep.

I received several emails that provided some additional information and thoughts on the subject of the intersection at Mequon and Wausaukee Roads at the very east edge of the village.

Trustee Wolter was kind enough to send an email covering a meeting held at the Germantown Library on Thursday afternoon, April 24th.  The City of Mequon and Village of Germantown were represented, Senator Darling and Representatives Ott and Jeskewitz attended and several Department of Transportation representatives were present.

The topic was the intersection in question and DOT was seeking a 'compromise' for the signalization of the intersection.  The plan that was in process of implementation at that time was for two straight through lanes, dedicated left turn lanes with islands, and dedicated right turn lanes on Mequon with a single straight through lane traveling north and south on Wausaukee Road.

City of Mequon officials thought this was 'overkill' since they consider the area to be rural, and their planning supports that it will remain rural in their eyes.  They preferred the roundabout solution and were pushing for that as the outcome of this meeting.  Germantown officials wanted the intersection to stay as the DOT had designed and based this on the increased traffic due to Waste Management trucks and the increase in auto traffic east and west during weekday commute periods.  They also foresaw an increase in traffic as building in TIF 4 increased.  The DOT was looking out 20 years so far as design and capacity.

The 'compromise' that came from this meeting was this: a single straight through lane east and west on Mequon along with dedicated left hand and right hand turn lanes while Wausaukee stayed as designed with a single lane in both directions.  The provision was that something might need to be rebuilt if traffic projections were to be reached in the next ten years.

Conversations I have had indicate that some are concerned about the village being required to pick up the future cost while the DOT is now paying 100% of the costs for the construction.  Others have voiced the opinion that a roundabout was their preference, as well, and cited the thought that we may have been able to forego all construction if enforcement were to be stepped up in that area.  Still others questioned the need for any change suggesting that there were single digit accidents per year from their observations.

So, there is apparently a compromise in place. Maybe this will stay in place since all the 'official' parties were at this table.  As is customary, some of the 'unofficial' parties will continue to disagree.  That is among the reasons we hold elections every few years.

The intersection of Wausaukee and Mequon Roads has been accident prone for some time with the increased traffic loads that have developed.  The state Department of Transportation had originally indicated that it intended to place a 'round-about' at this intersection to slow traffic and control the flow through the intersection.  Seemingly the fact that this involved a state highway with relatively high speeds hadn't crossed the state's institutional mind.  Long story short, a couple of Germantown people who are no longer in office worked diligently to get this intended action changed and succeeded.

The state recently announced that a traffic light intersection would be created at that location and that the state would fully fund the work with the proviso that Germantown maintain the intersection.  Part of this intersection is in Ozaukee County and Mequon.

It seems that Mequon has made a 'stink' with very little in the way of rational reason, and this has apparently caused the state to threaten to renege on its written intention earlier provided to Germantown.  This situation has degenerated to the point where the 'round-about' solution was back on the table, and the ultimate outcome is very much in doubt.  In the meantime, accidents continue to occur and will continue to occur until something is done to eliminate the danger.

If you have strong feelings about this, it is the time to voice those to your elected representatives who serve in Madison.   When the state makes a decision and then rescinds that decision, someone somewhere must've done some tail-twisting.  You might also want to let your Trustees and Village President know just how strongly you feel about this so they can add the weight of your comments to their own.  The appropriate addresses are to found on the Village website link that is located at the very bottom of the GermantownNOW site you're on now.