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Ashwaubenon village board backs amended resolution on transportation aids

By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer

ASHWAUBENON – A resolution to support the Just Fix It campaign for funding Wisconsin’s transportation system didn’t receive the rubber-stamp treatment Tuesday, Oct. 23, from the Ashwaubenon village board.

The ongoing campaign, which is in partnership with the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, Wisconsin Counties Association, Wisconsin Towns Association and the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin, has included a resolution to send to the governor and state legislators.

However, the standard wording other governmental bodies in the state have forwarded on didn’t sit well with some village board members, particularly the phrase that calls for including “a responsible level of bonding” for funding the state’s transportation system.

“I am totally opposed to bonding for infrastructure improvements – roads and bridges and so forth,” said Trustee Ken Bukowski. “That ought to be a user fee, which is a gas tax and registration (fee) increases for cars that don’t use gas or use a lot less gas because they’re hybrids.”

Bukowski said he opposed the resolution as presented because bonding for infrastructure “just goes against my soul, if I have one.”

After board members voted down the original resolution on a voice vote, Bukowski introduced an amendment the board approved to eliminate the phrase with “a responsible level of bonding” in it so that the “sustainable solution” called for in the resolution would state “one that includes adjusting our user fees to adequately and sustainably fund Wisconsin’s transportation system.”

Trustee Mark Williams, who opposed both the original and amended versions of the resolution, called the Just Fix It measure “a political ploy” by Democrats and got into an argument with Bukowski over how to fund fixing the roads.

“How are you going to fix the road without putting in – increasing the gas tax?” Bukowski asked. Williams.

“You can vote the way you want, Ken,” Williams responded.

“It’s not a ploy,” Bukowski said. “How are you going to fix the roads, Mark, tell me? What are you going to use to finance fixing roads and bridges?”

“We’re fixing them right now,” Williams said.

“We’ve got some of the worst infrastructure in the country,” said Bukowski as he pounded the board’s table.

The amended resolution passed with trustees Mark Williams and Allison Williams both voting against it.

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