Marklein, Tranel hold listening sessions

By Steve Van Kooten

State Senator Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Representative Travis Tranel (R-Cuba City) held a listening session in Wauzeka on Monday, Feb. 2, at the Village Hall from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

“We’ve both been in the legislature for a while, and I don’t think I’m alone in saying the majority of good ideas that get implemented in Madison come from constituents,” said Tranel.

Marklein represents the 17th Senate District, covering Crawford, Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette and portions of Dane counties, while Tranel represents the 49th Assembly District, which includes Grant and Crawford counties.

Community members from Prairie du Chien, Wauzeka, Haney and Freeman brought up several issues that they wanted addressed by the legislature.

Transmission line

Ellen Brooks, of Haney Township, spoke about the Dairyland Power Cooperative’s proposed MariBell transmission line, and presented a letter from the Haney Town Board saying they don’t want the 765-kilovolt transmission line through their area.

The proposed line is supposed to cross through Crawford County, going as far south as Bell Center.

Edie Ehlert, of Freeman, said her local town board wrote a letter to Dairyland for more information and claims the company is not responding.

“If there’s anything you can do to get Dairyland and those companies to come forward with information. Landowners are writing them for information, and they’re not getting it,” she said.

Other concerns about the transmission line included the size of the line’s structures (200 feet tall), the effect on local property values and the local need for a line of that capacity.

Tranel later released a statement, which commented on the transmission line. “One thing that repeatedly came up was the new transmission line that is being proposed for northern Crawford County. I think it is vitally important that we all do our part to make sure that the beautiful Driftless region is not completely plastered with solar panels, windmills, and transmission lines.”

School districts

Public and private schools came up multiple times during the session, with concerns predominantly focused on how state funds support education.

“I totally oppose any tax dollars going to religious organizations, institutions or schools... That said, I’m also opposed to the idea that my tax dollars are going to private schools at all,” said Robin Mezera. “If a parent chooses that the 421 school districts in the state [aren’t] good enough, they should foot the bill.”

Other speakers raised concerns about public school funding, with hundreds of districts going to referendums over the past two to three years.

Mary Novey referenced the failed operation referendums for Prairie du Chien schools in the fall of 2024 and spring of 2025 and how the budget deficit has altered the school’s programming. 

Locally, operational referendums have not had a high rate of success; River Ridge could not pass a referendum after several tries in the past two years. Wauzeka-Steuben will attempt to obtain one in April.

She added that the State of Wisconsin has a “long history” of underfunding public school districts, and many are resorting to taking general funds to balance their budget and cutting programming, staff and benefits to balance the books.

“There’s got to be a way to increase this funding, especially in rural districts,” she said.

Joseph Childs, who works for the Boscobel School District as a basketball coach, added the funding situation for public schools is affecting the relationships between school employees and school boards.

Marklein and Tranel initially said they would not respond to the concerns aired during the session; however, both made comments in response to certain issues after the session concluded.

“I just think a lot of people don’t understand how school funding works. They have no idea how much we’re spending per pupil; they’re frustrated,” said Tranel.

He added that he believed school budgets are “tapped,” but the State is “picking up the majority” of what gets spent on public school.

“Saying they are short money is 100 percent accurate, but saying they’re short money because the state doesn’t support them is false. We’re spending more on education now than ever,” he said.

In January, Tranel released a statement on school funding that claimed most of the public school districts in Southwest Wisconsin receive a majority (more than 60 percent) of their funding from State support.

The release went on to say the largest challenge in Wisconsin is declining enrollment, which is hitting more than two-thirds of the 421 districts in the state.

Multiple attendees also said they had concerns about the state’s voucher program funneling tax money to religion-affiliated schools and a bill the Wisconsin State Assembly passed that incentivize school district consolidation and grade sharing.

Financing local dairy

Childs encouraged Marklein and Tranel to consider support for custom-raise dairy operations in Wisconsin.

“Each year, hundreds of thousands of dairy cattle, heifers and calves are shipped out of state to be raised by growers, and the average cost of raising these cattle is approximately $3 per day,” he said.

Childs said it’s estimated that $54 million is spent on this arrangement each year.

“That’s money Wisconsin farms aren’t capitalizing on. We’re shipping that money out of state,” he said.

Childs suggested financial support for custom-raised dairy cattle operations and a statewide network for cattle raisers and large-scale dairy operations could strengthened the state’s increasingly concentrated dairy industry.

Support from the state could help new farmers bypass steep land prices to run smaller, profitable operations. Childs said many farmers are resorting to renting land to farm crops and raise cattle.

An increased number of custom-raised herds available locally could also bolster biosecurity for cattle herds because they’re not getting shipped halfway across the country to places like California.

“By keeping them in Wisconsin, we can have smaller operations and herds operating safely,” he said.

Tax levies

Gerald Krachey, a Crawford County supervisor, raised a concern about the state’s one-percent levy limit. He said several counties across Wisconsin — at least 52 of 72 — are “fighting” this same problem.

Crawford County is among the counties that sent an official letter to the State Senate requesting alter the levy limit restrictions imposed on counties.

“Next year, we’re going to have to make some drastic cuts if we can’t go over the one-percent limit,” he said.

This past November, Gary Koch, Crawford County Finance Committee chair, said the county is relying on short- and long-term borrowing and fund transfers to balance the county’s budget, claiming to cost $2.5 million more than the county is able to levy for, making it difficult to keep up with inflation and other rising costs.

“A frozen levy limit means the county or the school can’t raise taxes on their own; they have to go to a referendum,” said Tranel.

He suggested that failing referendums show that the constituents in the municipality or school district do not want to pay more taxes.

Krachey also called on the legislators to address unfunded mandates, which are services the state requires municipalities to provide without allocating state financial assistance (this includes mandated programs through Health and Human Services and other agencies). Krachey claimed the State had failed to make shared revenue payments to counties in the past. 

Marklein held listening sessions across the 17th district in Cuba City, Muscoda and Oregon, among others, in late January.

Also present were Wauzeka-Steuben District Administrator Dr. Dan Olson, Crawford County Supervisor Derek Flansburgh and Molly Bohn, a field representative for U.S. Congressman Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.).