Central Wisconsin Village Urged To Dissolve Or Annex To Wausau

The loss of a local paper mill may also lead to the end of a village in central Wisconsin.

A newly released consultant’s report has given the village of Brokaw some tough decisions to make. It faces two options, neither of which will be easy: annex to the city of Wausau, which is now impossible because there is no shared boundary; or dissolve, which would saddle the adjacent towns of Maine and Texas with millions of dollars of debt.

Marathon County Administrator Brad Karger said all four governments need to act now.

“You do not have time to ponder this,” said Karger. “The time for action is yesterday … It’s going to be very important that four communities who have limited experience cooperating really go from limited experience to the master’s degree level fast.”

Brokaw Village President Jeffrey Weisenberger said that village leaders need time to digest the report before he can comment on it.