Dunn County committee backs resolution asking state to fully fund county land and water conservation positions

Dunn County Legislative Committee on Wednesday agreed to forward a resolution to the county board asking state lawmakers to provide full base funding for county land and water conservation staff, a move supporters said would stabilize local conservation programs that have operated under partial state support for decades.

The resolution, offered at the committee’s April 9 meeting at the Dunn County Government Center, was moved by Board Member Kinnear and seconded by Board Member Helen; committee members carried the motion by voice vote.

Committee members said the request echoes an ask from the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association that would appear in the 2025–27 state budget. Chase, a land and water conservation staff member who briefed the committee, described the statutory funding formula and how county programs are affected. “Since the early 2000s … state statute chapter 92 has a statement in there that, the state of Wisconsin shall attempt to fund an average of 3 positions in every county,” Chase said. He explained that the statute’s funding formula is intended to pay 100% of a first position, 70% of a second position and 50% of a third position but that those levels “have never been fully funded.”

Why this matters: counties often deliver state-mandated conservation programs — such as agricultural performance standards and soil-and-water work — but county offices told the committee the state’s intermittent funding makes multi-year planning difficult. Chase told the committee the proposal being promoted by county associations asks for $20,200,000 in base funding in the state budget to bring the statutory formula up to the intended levels for counties statewide.

Committee members pressed staff on how additional state dollars might affect local levies and staffing. Chase said the final effect would depend on legislative language. In past budget actions, he said, the Legislature has included maintenance-of-effort language that could require counties to preserve current levy levels; in other instances one-time funds were later not renewed. “When this topic has come before the state budget in the past, the legislature has … come through with some additional funding, but it's been one-time funding in each year of the biennium,” Chase said. He and other committee members discussed three possible outcomes depending on the final wording: the county could be allowed to offset levy dollars with state funds, be required to maintain levy contributions, or be required to maintain staffing levels (a personnel-based maintenance-of-effort).

The committee did not attach any local dollar allocations to the resolution. Members said the measure will allow Dunn County to join other counties in asking the state to make base funding permanent and predictable rather than episodic.

Votes: The committee approved forwarding the resolution by voice vote after a motion from Board Member Kinnear and a second from Board Member Helen. No roll-call tally was recorded in the meeting minutes.

What’s next: The committee will forward the resolution to the county board for consideration. Committee members were also reminded of the Wisconsin Counties Association annual conference and the April 23 deadline for submitting resolutions for WCA consideration.

Ending: Supporters said the resolution is intended to improve county capacity to administer state conservation requirements and to stabilize staffing so local offices can plan multi-year programs.