$35M La Crosse annual city projects budget to be considered for final time Thursday evening (2024)

After several rounds of public hearings, La Crosse city council will consider a final project budget Thursday for 2025.

City council members can still make final changes at the meeting, and some city officials still have some unresolved requests to alter the budget.

As it stands, the city is on track to spend $35.5 million on infrastructure, community development, public spaces and utilities. To achieve this budget, the city will borrow $12.3 million in new debt.

Earlier drafts had the city’s project budget at $27.5 million in early May. New borrowing has decreased by $123,000 and city funding increased by $8 million since the first budget draft.

Notable changes include Parks & Recreation spending increases, a $6 million watermain project and a neighborhood that rallied to remove a sidewalk infill project from their street.

If approved, the city will have completed its entire budget for 2025 since starting the annual process in January. The capital improvement budget would join the $9 million equipment budget, bringing La Crosse’s capital investments to $44.5 million for 2025.

Cost of pools adding up

Previously unfunded in earlier drafts, the repairs for North Side Community Pool have been added into the 2025 project budget. The North Side pool needs $900,000 to repair pool liner, roofing and mechanical systems.

Funding in the 2025 budget will come entirely from new borrowing debts.

Without the repairs, North Side Community Pool would close. It would leave only two public pools open in La Crosse: Veterans Memorial Pool on Campbell Road and Erickson Pool on Losey Boulevard.

Mayor Mitch Reynolds requested the repair budget be removed from the 2025 budget, saying that staff cuts would be likely with the operational costs of running the pool any longer.

“Since we began earlier this year, we have since gotten some rejections about how our operational budget will look and the types of cuts we will have to make in services in order to be able to function as a city government,” Reynolds said.

According to a memo from the Parks and Recreation department, it costs $76,415 annually to staff the North Side Community Pool. On top of labor, the pool requires $41,715 for utilities like water and power every year.

The North Side pool also has the lowest attendance numbers of the city’s three pools with decreases from 2019 to 2023. The mayor and parks director Jay Odegaard were concerned with spending more than $118,000 every year on top of repair costs.

“If our participation numbers stayed the same, we would be looking at about $25 in entry fee to break even on a swimming pool,” Odegaard said. “Municipal swimming pools are very expensive to run, right? Especially here in this type of weather and climate that we have in Wisconsin.”

Last year, the city increased the daily pass fee for pool access from $4 to $5.

Water transmission project

La Crosse’s Water Utility department requested a $6 million water transmission project that would upgrade the North Side’s water systems.

The new water main will increase water system capacity, pressure and redundancy to North Side residents and businesses. The main would be installed under Highway 16.

The project would be paid for entirely in water utility funds and require no new borrowing or debts. This amount makes up for a majority of the $8 million change in city funding from the first drafted budget to the final version.

The Water Utility department accrues this fund through payments on water meters, installations, water usage and sewer usage.

Sidewalks taken out after complaints

In smaller cash numbers but large participation turnout, residents from the Bluffside neighborhood put together a petition to halt a sidewalk infill projects on Farnum and 29th streets.

Neighbors surveyed 185 properties near the planned street project. In their survey, 70% of residents opposed the sidewalks, 6% supported sidewalks and 24% abstained or did not respond.

The Bluffside residents had issues with neighborhood aesthetics and flooding problems with less greenspace. Many showed up to a Thursday committee meeting to voice their concerns.

“The petition demonstrates that an excess of two-thirds supermajority of the residents oppose these projects, and it’s clearly evident that the removal of the infill projects from the Bluffside neighborhood is warranted,” resident Anthony Brand said.

The Finance & Administration committee recommended the sidewalk projects be removed with a 4-2 vote.

La Crosse’s departments craft budgets for a four-year timespan and try to predict upcoming projects for future budget concerns. The protested sidewalk projects were not budgeted for until 2029.

If other street work is done on any of the Bluffside streets, sidewalks will be added regardless of the city’s vote or capital project budget.