Richland County Adopts Capital Improvement Plan

Richland County will be saving money with a newly approved Capital Improvement Plan supervisors approved at last night’s (Tuesday) Board meeting. The practice of short-term borrowing over the last several years has been utilized to complete various capital improvement projects within the county. A significant reduction in the amount of short-term borrowing was proposed for 2025 projects, and the amount of proposed short-term borrowing for 2025 capital improvement projects is $601,200, excluding fees, with $500,000 for Highway Department projects and $101,200 for Management Information Services (MIS) projects. The county is working on this Capital Improvement Plan, which will eventually lead to no longer having to borrow funding. This move is possible due to the relief from Shared Revenue and money still left from previous borrowing. The finance department will place funds still left from the previous borrowed money into a Capital Improvement account. The goal of this new account is to make the county self sustainable in its Capital Improvement Plan. This year’s plan is to only borrow $601,200 is down from the $1.5 million each of the past four years. This cut in borrowing will save thousands of dollars for the county.

In other action the board of supervisors approved:

The purchase of Finance, Payroll, and Human Resources software from Tyler Technologies with an implementation cost of $163,505 and an annual cost of $120,000 for the initial first three years of the term of the contract.

An amendment to three provider contracts for the Health & Human Services Department. The contracts are with You Are Enough Counseling of Avoca from $49,500 to $85,000; with Arneson Counseling, LLC of Richland Center from $49,500 to $100,000; and With Red Maple Consulting Services, LLC of Gays Mills, from $49,500, amended to $150,000. All three contracts are amended due to an increased need for a variety of services to Comprehensive Community Services consumers in the Behavioral Health Services Unit.

To complete stream bank repair projects with already obtained Snowmobile Alliance Grants. The lowest bids were obtained by Wanless Excavation LLC for the work at the Mobile and Schreiber sites. The Mobile Site Project totals $16,500 and the Schreiber Site, totaling $15,990. All the work is to be completed by June 30, 2025.

To pay the bills to the Richland County Snowmobile Alliance and the Hillsboro Trail Blazers from the 2023-24 Snowmobile Maintenance Grant for grooming and non grooming hours eligible for payment of $35,080.

For the Sheriff’s Office to purchase new mobile and portable radios for the new radio system at a cost of up to $78,000.

The MIS and Sheriff’s Departments were granted an Intradepartmental Partnership to apply for and accept a PSAP Grant from the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs for 2025. The grant would fund up to $750,000 and requires a minimum local match of 10%. And an Intradepartmental Partnership Of MIS, Land Information, and the Sheriff’s Department to apply for and accept a NG911 GIS Grant from Wisconsin Department Of Military Affairs. The grant would fund up to $750,000 and requires a minimum local match of 5%.

Richland County is the recipient of Opioid Settlement Funds and is expected to receive up to $489,794 through the end of 2038. A committee was created to determine the best utilization of these funds and it was determined grants would be offered to Richland County non-profit organization and those that serve Richland County residents to allow for the prevention, treatment, and/or recovery of opioid drug use and its various effects. Grant applications will be accepted twice a year to be reviewed by the Community and Health Services Committee with final approval by the full County Board. Awards will generally be between $1,000 and $25,000 and projects can be renewed annually if funding allows and reporting requirements have been met. The full board of supervisors approved the resolution at last night’s meeting.