Brown County Executive Proposes Changing County Road Funding System

Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach is proposing a change to how much the county pays for road work in its 24 municipalities.

Instead of the longstanding 50-50 split between the county and municipalities, the county would only pay for 22 feet of repairs and improvements on a county roadway, leaving the municipalities with the lion’s share of the cost.

But city and village leaders say if the proposal passes as is, it would leave local residents on the hook for nearly the entire cost of road improvements.

Bernie Erickson, county board member and chair of the Brown County Planning, Development, and Transportation Committee, doesn’t agree with Streckenbach’s proposal and said he’s “pretty sure” the entire committee feels the same way.

“I don’t think there’s anybody on the committee that personally wants to ramrod this thing through,” Erickson said. “So I think maybe up above, maybe there was an issue of possibly being able to save some money or something. Well, you know you rob Peter to pay Paul, right?”

Local officials seem to agree.

If passed, the proposal would limit the county’s financial contribution to only 22 feet of roadway, when many county roads are at least 75 feet wide, not counting accommodations for people who aren’t driving cars, like bike lanes, said Michael Aubinger, Village of Ashwaubenon president.

“They don’t want to fund bike amenities or pedestrian paths or sidewalks,” Aubinger said. “That, too, is something they request from us all the time, but they don’t want to seem to be part of that funding mechanism. But we really need at least help in funding that.”

Streckenbach’s proposal was outlined at a meeting in late July.

The county board hasn’t taken action on the proposal. The matter is scheduled to come up again in September.