Dennis Hilgendorf
Candidate for Rock County Supervisor, District 21
Issues
Years of unchecked spending and borrowing has been passed down to taxpayers and businesses through increased property taxes. Rock County needs someone with Dennis’ experience and leadership abilities to tackle these challenges that the Rock County Board is currently facing:
Controlling Property Tax Increases
Property taxes have reached critical levels for many in our county. County property taxes affect its municipalities disproportionately (meaning some citizens depending on where they live in Rock County pay more or less than others). Rock County residents work extremely hard for their money and they expect their tax dollars paid to the government to be spent effectively and efficiently on county responsibilities. The county board just passed a budget that resulted in higher property taxes and fee increases. “I have talked to people that only have social security as their main source of income. There are a lot of people in our community that are living on fixed income alone. They feel betrayed by those elected. My opponent’s time on the board has revealed just how tone deaf he is to the average citizen’s concerns. We have to ask ourselves: Is our quality of life getting better? Is our crime rate very low? Is homelessness increasing? Do we have the best roads? Are we continuing in the right direction? The county cannot continue to tax our citizens more while providing the same or less services”.
DEBT - Implement a Debt Management Policy
Currently the county does not have a debt policy. The county debt is at an all time high of $129 million with $14.5 million of debt service (principal + interest) budgeted for this year. Debt service is a major part of the county budget, with projections showing it staying above $10 million until 2032. Setting responsible debt management parameters is critical in order to maintain financial stability and creditworthiness, ensure that the county can finance essential services and capital projects responsibly.
Analysis of EMPLOYEE WAGE GRID pay structure
There has been a host of problems resulting from the implementation of a new wage grid in 2023. Higher level employees and department manager’s wages jumped significantly due to the grid structure coupled with all employee’s receiving an annual COLA percentage. This resulted in some employees getting significant pay increases and others getting barely any. This has contributed to both lower employee morale and retention problems.
To further compound the problems, the boards have continued to give employees both a cola and a step increase. This goes against the wage consulting firm’s recommendations for affordability and caused a further divide in wages below market.
Employee Health Insurance Increase
The board chose to ignore the 2011 Act 10 mandate that public employees pay at least 12.6% of their health insurance premiums. In 2025, the board approved employees paying 1% premium with an increase to 6% this year. A full employee wage and benefit review and analysis is needed before corrective decisions can be determined.
FEDERAL AND STATE ACTIONS
The uncertainty of Federal & State funding actions on County Grant Programs
Federal and State actions significantly influence county grants by changing funding availability, shifting administrative burdens, and setting new policy requirements. The county is facing uncertainty of federal and state funding levels. It is critical that the board remains alert and informed of these actions. Currently, Governor Evers’ refusal to release food stamp data to allow the USDA to audit the SNAP program is hanging in the balance. This is putting the county’s funding of these federal programs at risk, the board must work with the administrator to identify what services are at risk and impact on our ability to continue these services.
ACT 10 repeal would negatively impact future county budgets
Increased employee costs would once again be shifted back to the taxpayer significantly impacting the budget and county programs/services. Several retired government union employees currently sit on the board, including Dennis’ opponent. This casts doubt that he will be able to remain unbiased and represent taxpayer’s best interests over the union’s interests.
