Every District member received a post card inviting them to the August 11, 2011 monthly LGLPRD board meeting. For those who could not attend please read the attached e-mail from Joy Waterbury summarizing the presentations.

Thanks,

Gregg Cygnar

Chairman

Greetings once again

We had a great meeting with our neighbors from Little Green Lake tonight. Many thanks to Gregg Cygnar and the Little Green Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District for inviting Care-Now to speak to the group. Ironically both the LGLPRD and Big Green's Sanitary District deserve a round of applause for keeping taxes stable with no increases in recent years. We we wish other taxing entities would take lessons :)

Here's a brief overview of the meeting highlights

Joy Waterbury presented a brief overview of Markesan school taxes.

The Markesan District Schools operate on a $12 million budget. Of that about $7 million is funded through local property taxes. Of that $7 million, half is supplied by residents of the Town of Green Lake. With only 450 acres of residential property in the Town of Green Lake compared to over 20,000 acres of agricultural property, it's clear that a small group of lake shore residents provide the lions share of taxes that support our school district. Looking at tax bills it's also evident that the school district nets the largest portion of all the taxing entities.

Steve Sorenson, of Sorenson Law Office gave an explanation of the processes to contest assessments.

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Sorenson outlined several scenarios people will encounter in contesting their assessment and not everyone will continue through the entire process..

• An obvious error, like being assessed for the wrong property or an attribute that doesn't exist on that property, might be resolved at the Open Book meeting or by contacting the assessor and no further action will be needed.
• It may be determined that it might not be beneficial to you to pursue a complaint and you'll be advised accordingly.
• If enough complaints are received the Town Board could decide to act to satisfy the majority of complaints with an reduction, thus eliminating the need for further action. This reduction would only apply to those who complained, not everyone in the Township.
• In the event you might be dissatisfied with any Board of Review decision you can appeal to the State or to the Circuit Court.
• There's a remote possibility that evidence exists that the same complaint is valid among several properties, in which case a class-action suit could be brought.

We also learned that the Town of Green Lake's Board of Review consists of the three Town Board members and the Town secretary.

Also speaking at the meeting was our own Mike Regan, Chairman of Care-Now.

Mike shared some of the specific concerns residents of Big Green Lake are having regarding unrealistic assessment increases that don't reflect what is actually happening in the real estate market. Mike reiterated that Care-Now consists of people who care deeply about the community and the school district and that we are committed to establishing fairness in taxation for the betterment of the whole community. The bottom line it is unfair to expect, and unwise to rely on, a small handful of property owners to fund the majority of the school district into the future. Balance is needed and Care-Now seeks fairness in taxation.

Joy Waterbury

Secretary

www.Care-Now.org