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Residents urge Port Edwards to address ‘double burden’ of privatized Napco Lake roads and high taxes
Summary
Napco Lake residents told the Port Edwards board they pay village taxes yet rely on privately maintained roads, calling it a "double burden" and asking the board to consider accepting roads under state law and to create a clearer path for budget input.
Several residents urged the Port Edwards Board of Trustees on March 11 to address what they called an unequal tax‑to‑service relationship in the Napco Lake neighborhood, saying the developer privatized roads while homeowners still pay village taxes that fund road maintenance.
At the start of public comment, Larry said he had emailed two items for the record and asked the board to address the village’s position on the boundary/road agreement east of the river and to discuss six budget‑process suggestions during the finance/Human Resources/IT report. He told the board his previous request for a resolution had “been dismissed without discussion.”
Joanne Walter, introduced by the chair as Joanne Walter, said she and her husband are “residents of the Napolett development where the developer privatized the roads with your approval. Yet we continue to be taxed and so those roads are public. We pay property taxes that include road maintenance funding and we also pay into our HOA,” calling the arrangement “a double burden.” Walter cited the ability under Wisconsin Statute 66.1003 to petition a municipality to accept private roads as public and asked the board to acknowledge the inequity and discuss possible remedies.
Online commenters, including Dana Jacobs, echoed the concern about the “tax‑to‑service ratio” and asked for a clear, actionable path for residents to provide input and influence future budgets. Mike Beam, also online, recommended benchmarking Port Edwards against nearby municipalities in Wood County to identify cost‑reduction opportunities and said some higher spending (for example on road quality) might be justified after comparison.
Board members and staff responded with procedural and legal context. The board chair noted there is an existing boundary agreement the village is legally obliged to follow unless the board votes to change it. Village Administrator Ben described an ad hoc NEPCO Lake District group that produced nonbinding summaries; he said the ad hoc work is a recommendation back to the board and will be reviewed further in committee. Trustees urged the public to provide specific, numbered requests or proposals so committees can evaluate options rather than discussing the issue only in general terms.
The board did not take formal action on the Napco Lake requests at the meeting but agreed to return the matter to committee for further review and encouraged residents to provide written proposals. The next steps cited were committee review (FHR and PLP were mentioned for budget and policy issues) and the May 2 town‑hall meeting on an unrelated wake‑boat ordinance, which trustees said will also model how public education and input are collected.
Ending: Residents interested in committee work or follow‑up were directed to contact the village administrator for copies of the ad hoc summaries and to follow the committee calendar for upcoming meetings.
