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Welcome to the home of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin Rock County Chapter.
Our Mission:
The mission of the National Federation of the Blind is to achieve widespread emotional acceptance and intellectual understanding that the real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight but the misconceptions and lack of information which exist. We do this by bringing blind people together to share successes, to support each other in times of failure, and to create imaginative solutions.
City council approves 2011 budget
Reprinted from the 11/23/2010 Janesville Gazette.
By: MARCIA NELESEN
JANESVILLE — A group of passionate bus riders convinced the Janesville City Council to restore reduced bus service along West Court Street and Kellogg Avenue during non-peak hours.
That was the only change Monday as the council approved the 2011 budget. The budget calls for an increase of .46 percent in expenditures, a 2.3 percent increase in the tax levy and a 1.64 percent increase in the tax rate.
Councilman Tom McDonald was the sole “no” vote, and that was in protest to continued borrowing for street maintenance.
The council will set the tax rate for all taxing jurisdictions Monday, Nov. 29.
Councilman George Brunner said the cuts in transit funding bothered him the most of any discussed during budget study sessions. That’s because they affected people who have no choice but to ride the bus because they either don’t drive or have disabilities, he said.
Brunner suggested diverting $25,000 in savings that City Manager Eric Levitt renegotiated with the Rock County Humane Society for animal control. Levitt had suggested the money be put into cash reserves.
Brunner suggested that $15,000 go to restoring the routes and that $10,000 go into cash reserves. He said the transit department could find the other $125 from its own budget.
Brunner did warn, though, that the council couldn’t continue draining its reserve year after year.
Councilman Russ Steeber agreed that the bus service is a lifeline to the rest of the city for those people living along that corridor.
McDonald noted that Milton Avenue is the only other street in the city that is served by bus every half-hour. Still, the vote to restore the service was unanimous and was greeted with claps and hugs in the audience.
Jeremiah Beasley, 339 S. Division St., president of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin, Rock County Chapter, said the reductions would have been a hardship.
“Once they start cutting services, we find that they continue to get cut,” he said.
The council declined to restore two hours cut from the schedules of the city’s two wading pools, or to lower fees at the senior citizen center.
The 2011 budget includes a $25 mandatory fee for seniors compared to a $15 voluntary fee this year.
Councilman Yuri Rashkin in a recent news article urged residents to come out and speak in favor of the amenities. One resident spoke in favor of returning the wading pool hours and another spoke against the senior center fee.
Councilman Frank Perrotto, though, reminded council members that the city would pay an $180,000 subsidy to the senior center in 2011.
“I’m very proud of the city for providing that subsidy,” he said. “Raising fees for anybody is not easy. But one of the things that we discussed is the fact that we’re trying to get everyone to bear the burden.
“I personally do not believe that raising the fee from $15 to $25 is out of line, frankly,” he added.
McDonald said the senior center subsidy is the largest for any recreational facility.
Rashkin said that every $30,000 the council spends costs the average homeowner $1. Reducing the senior fees might cost a person another 20 cents, he said.
“These are not the people on whose backs we need to balance the budget,” Rashkin said.
But McDonald said everything the council includes in the budget adds $1 here or 33 cents there.
“If we look at everything in the program like that instead of looking at the global budget, we would end up with an incredibly large budget,” he said.
Voting to retain the $25 fee were council members Bill Truman, Kathy Voskuil, Perrotto and McDonald. Steeber, Brunner and Rashkin voted to decrease the fee but find the lost revenue somewhere else in the senior center budget.
A motion to reinstate wading pool hours failed to get a second.
Rock County Blind Speak Up About Transit
The City of Janesville is proposing cuts to city transit. We have drafted a letter and will presinti it at the City Council meeting tonight. You can read the letter posted belowe. Stay tuned for more!
