Month: September 2018

Wisconsin on Pace to Hit Highest Loss of Dairy Farms in 4 Years

Posted on September 14, 2018 by

Wisconsin lost 47 dairy farms in August, putting the state on pace for its worst year since 2013.

The latest data from the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection shows there were 8,372 licensed dairy producers at the beginning of September. That’s 429 fewer than were licensed at the start of the year.

Mike North, president of the Dairy Business Association, said it’s not surprising given the current market and long-term trend toward consolidation in the industry. “There’s lots of motivating factors in this but it’s a trend that’s been going on for my entire lifetime,” North said

But Shelly Mayer, executive director of Professional Dairy Producers, said low milk prices for more than three years just became too much for some farms. “For some of these farm families, that they just can’t continue on with the businesses and that’s what we always find difficult and devastating, to lose the farm numbers in that way,” Mayer said.

But both Mayer and North say retirement and the absence of a successor to take over the farm are also part of the reasons Wisconsin has fewer dairy farms.

Census: Household Incomes Up, Poverty Down in 2017

Posted on September 13, 2018 by

Median household incomes grew and the national poverty rate fell for the third consecutive year in 2017, according to new Census Bureau estimates.

Wisconsin’s median household income rose more than $1,000 to $59,305 in 2017. Twenty one states had higher median incomes, including Minnesota ($68,388) and Illinois ($62,992), according to estimates released Thursday. The national median household income was $61,372.

Wisconsin’s poverty rate was 11.3 percent, statistically unchanged from the previous year and below the national rate of 12.3 percent. The poverty rate among Wisconsin families was 7.1 percent, down from 7.7 percent last year and 9.2 percent in 2013.

Nationwide household income grew by 1.8 percent after adjusting for inflation, but not everyone enjoyed the same gains. Those in the top 5 percent saw income grow by 3 percent, nearly double the rate of those in the middle.

There was also a 1.1 percent decline in median earnings for full-time workers, which is likely the result of more people joining the workforce and starting at the bottom of the pay scale, said Trudi Renwick, the Census Bureau’s assistant division chief of economic characteristics.

How do Wisconsin Municipalities Collect Taxes from Airbnb and Other Home Rental Companies?

Posted on September 12, 2018 by

Unlike the popular home-renting service Airbnb, which returned hundreds of thousands of dollars to Madison and the state of Wisconsin in the first year of a tax collection agreement, similar companies leave tax payment up to individual property owners.

Under voluntary agreements with Madison, Airbnb returned $324,000 in room tax revenue in the first year of payments. The company returned $2.5 million to the state of Wisconsin over the first year of its agreement.

However, other major players in the home rental business, like Homeaway and VRBO (both owned by Expedia), do not charge the required local taxes up front. Hosts who use these platforms are responsible for collecting and returning local taxes to the municipality.

Under Wisconsin law, people renting out rooms to the public for periods of less than one month are responsible for collecting and paying short-term lodging sales tax. The state only requires companies that have a nexus, or a connection between a seller and the state, to collect tax on sales made in Wisconsin.

Activities that create a nexus in Wisconsin include:

  • A physical presence or employees on the property.
  • The delivery of products into Wisconsin in company-owned vehicles.
  • Selling, servicing, repairing or installing products.
  • Performing construction activities or other services.

 

Dairy Industry, Rural banks ask Wisconsin Supreme Court to Review Stray Voltage Case

Posted on September 11, 2018 by

Wisconsin’s dairy industry and a group of rural banks are asking the state Supreme Court to uphold a jury’s decision to award more than $13 million to a Trempealeau County farmer in what would be the state’s largest stray voltage settlement.

In August 2017, a jury found that Northern States Power Co., or NSP, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, was negligent and failed to follow state regulations, causing more than $4 million in losses for Paul Halderson and his wife, Lyn, who operate a nearly 1,000-cow dairy farm near Galesville.

The Haldersons claimed their herd suffered from illness and decreased milk production for more than a decade because of improperly grounded power lines.

The jury awarded the Haldersons about $4.5 million, finding deliberate violation of statute, which would entitle the Haldersons to triple damages. But Judge Scott Horne later overruled the “wanton and willful” finding on the grounds that Xcel conducted multiple tests on the Halderson farm but failed to find unacceptable levels of stray voltage.

A higher court denied the Haldersons’ appeal, upholding Horne’s decision, saying “the evidence at trial was insufficient for a reasonable jury to find, by clear and convincing evidence, that NSP’s conduct was willful, wanton, or reckless.” The appeals court also denied Xcel’s request for a new trial.

The Haldersons are now asking the Supreme Court to review the case, which they say hinges on an issue “of compelling statewide importance.”

Stray voltage refers to current that leaks from neutral wires into the earth. Animals that come into contact with a grounded object — such as a watering trough — can receive small shocks. This can cause dairy cattle to avoid eating, become stressed and generally produce less milk, according to research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Governor Walker Says Flood Damage Tops $200 Million

Posted on September 7, 2018 by

Gov. Scott Walker says severe flooding has caused more than $200 million in damage.

The governor tweeted Thursday morning that estimates put the damage at $208.7 million overall, including $98.2 million in damage to homes, $40.8 million in damage to businesses and $69.6 million to public infrastructure.

Wisconsin Emergency Management spokeswoman Lori Getter says that number is expected to rise. State and local officials are still responding to rising waters and haven’t gotten full damage estimates yet.

She says Federal Emergency Management Agency survey teams are planning to spend at least a week in Wisconsin assessing damage. She says that data will be used to make a request for federal disaster assistance.

Groups Make Pitch For and Against ‘Dark Stores’

Posted on September 6, 2018 by

For nearly 90 minutes on Tuesday, the auditorium in the county’s Ives Grove Office Complex turned into a metaphorical courtroom as members of the Racine County Government Services Committee heard arguments on both sides of the “dark store” loophole issue.

The dark store loophole, broadly defined, allows businesses that appeal their property tax assessment to a lower amount to occasionally use empty stores or vacant land as evidence for the lower amount.

Jerry Deschane, League of Wisconsin Municipalities executive director, spoke in favor of legislation that would close the dark store loophole.

“This is driving a shift in property taxes from large properties onto homeowners and small independent businesses,” Deschane said. “If this is not corrected — and it needs to be corrected by legislation — the problem will continue to grow. It will accelerate to the point where we estimate that it will drive an 8 percent increase in the average homeowner’s property tax bill.”

Deschane points to the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling on Walgreens v. City of Madison as a major contributor to the dark store issue.

Deschane said the state Supreme Court essentially ruled that municipalities cannot use the actual lease income of a property as part of its assessment. Instead, they must use a “market rate lease” which, he argues, is “always considerably lower and is not a fair representation of the income potential of that property, which is really what an assessment is supposed to do.”

Cory Fish, director of tax, transportation and legal affairs for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, spoke to oppose any legislation whatsoever on the issue.

Fish said the characterizations of the legislation proposed to solve the problem have been “disingenuous.”

“The (tax) shift has been towards business — and you can certainly cherry-pick municipalities where that’s not been the case, and I’m not going to deny that — but statewide when looking at the total tax revenue, the shift has been towards business,” Fish said. “This legislation affects everyone statewide, so I really don’t think we should make legislation by cherry-picking a few municipalities.”

Fish said it is “absurd” to think a law that has been on the books for decades would suddenly be taken advantage of by businesses in the mid-2000s.

“However, something did change in the mid-2000s, but it was the behavior of tax assessors and not businesses,” Fish contended. “The vast majority of tax assessors in this state are not increasing tax assessments, in our view, illegally, in order to gin up litigation to cause a problem. But there are a few activist tax assessors who are actually part of a group, who want to include the business value while taxing property.”

Rancorous, Partisan Start for Kavanaugh High Court Hearing

Posted on September 5, 2018 by

The week of hearings on Kavanaugh’s nomination began with a sense of inevitability that the 53-year-old appellate judge eventually will be confirmed, perhaps in time for the first day of the new term, Oct. 1, and little more than a month before congressional elections.

However, the first of at least four days of hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee began with partisan quarreling over the nomination and persistent protests from members of the audience, followed by their arrests.

In Kavanaugh’s own statement at the end of more than seven hours of arguing, the federal appeals judge spoke repeatedly about the importance of an independent judiciary and the need to keep the court above partisan politics, common refrains among Supreme Court nominees that had added salience in the fraught political atmosphere of the moment.

“A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. A judge must interpret statutes as written. A judge must interpret the Constitution as written, informed by history and tradition and precedent,” he said.

Kavanaugh also promised to be “a team player on the Team of Nine.”

The Supreme Court is often thought of as nine separate judges, rather than a team. And on the most contentious cases, the court tends to split into conservative and liberal sides. But justices often do say they seek consensus, and they like to focus on how frequently they reach unanimous decisions.

 

Public Comment Period Open on Suggestions for UI Changes

Posted on September 4, 2018 by

The Department of Workforce Development is encouraging the public to submit comments  about the state’s Unemployment Insurance program to the Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council.

The Council is taking public comments on suggested changes to the state’s UI laws through November 16, 2018. The comments will help form the Council’s legislative agenda during the following year.

Comments may be submitted by email to UILawChange@dwd.wisconsin.gov or by mail to:

Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council
Attn: Janell Knutson, Chair
P.O Box 8942
Madison, WI 53708

The Council comprises employer and employee representatives who meet monthly to recommend law changes and analyze legislative proposals that affect the state’s UI program.

For more information on the Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council visit: https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/uibola/uiac/.