Mercer PRAT will still need legislative approval

MERCER, Wis. — The town of Mercer held its annual meeting on Thursday, where John Sendra, town board chair, asked the nearly 20 residents present to contact their elected state officials to ask their support for the town’s Premier Resort Area Tax (PRAT) request.

Mercer voters approved PRAT on April 6. A municipality with at least 40% of its equalized assessed property value in use by tourism-related retailers, would qualify for PRAT. A municipality at less than 40% tourist driven value must have a PRAT request authorized by the state legislature.

“We could use the help for the good of our town,” Sendra said.

According to Debbie Hohner, town clerk, the town assessor has found the town is under the 40% threshold. The work now is to get the support at the legislature, she said.

“That is the next step to get it through,” she said.

Paul Carlson, the assessor for the town of Mercer, said he could not provide details as he is out of the office.

“I do know Mercer was under the 40% threshold and always has been,” Carlson said.

The board approved an amendment to the town’s tourist rooming house ordinance that adds the language requiring the owner applicant to present a seller’s permit from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and that state revenue reporting include the town of Mercer room tax. The action followed discussion in March on concerns about the potential for lost revenue when tourist rooming houses use third party online rental booking agencies that collect revenues and make state tax payments on behalf of the owners.

Jake Saarnio, road crew foreman, said he received four bids related to the Shay Dam repair project. The bids ranged from $85,400 to $134,600.

The vast difference in the bids was due to the checklist of 14 items where the town was willing to provide in-kind equipment and labor, he said. The lower the bid meant the more in-kind contribution would come from the town. Cooper Engineering, the project engineering firm, recommended the Nasi Construction LLC bid of $96,183 as the optimum use of in-kind contribution from the town and Iron County.

The board postponed approval of the bid at the recommendation of board member Vic Ouimette, who wanted to see the details of the bids. The board also requested a presentation on the bid from Cooper Engineering with an engineer present to talk about the recommendations.

Sendra said he would try to have a representative from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources present for the meeting. The DNR is the providing the grant that will pay for a portion of the project.

The board approved transferring the $55,000 received from the sale of a plow truck toward the loan for the new truck. The board will consider applying another $60,091 from the general fund toward the loan at the next meeting from a CD that has a lower interest bearing amount than the interest due on the loan.

The board approved a request from Saarnio for a $7,600 rototiller that would be used for landscaping along road projects and shoreline work.

In his road report, Saarnio said the Lakeshore Drive project is complicated and potentially costly. He recommended placing ditches to three lagoons to capture stormwater as opposed to installing storm sewers. He suggested a road survey to determine the amount of space to work with in the area.

Saarnio said the minimum requirements of the DNR grant for the proposed boat landing project at Rice Lake present an in-kind burden to the town in terms of building truck and trailer parking, tree cutting, landscaping and gravel. He suggested that the DNR survey the project area to assist in planning around the wetlands.

The board 3-2 approved a request from Heart of the North to place two outdoor tables for seating on the town sidewalk in front of the business for the summer.

Sendra and Michael Lambert opposed the request saying that the tables left 28 inches of space for pedestrian traffic to walk around the tables and the ordinance requires 36 inches.

During the open comment portion of the meeting a resident asked that the board revise the sign ordinance to allow digital sign messages to change more frequently than are currently allowed. The board said the item would be placed on a future agenda.

In other business, the town board approved:

—A Mercer Area Chamber of Commerce request for a weekend cookout at Carow Park for the Lupine Fest weekend of June 11-12.

—A tourist rooming house permit for two dwellings at 2794W Mercer Lake Circle N.

—Postponed approval of prior meeting minutes to the next meeting.

—Postponed the town employee handbook agenda item to the next meeting.

—Postponed two ATV club requests until legal counsel could be present. The requests included $2,000 for gravel to repair area trails, and to create a legal trail access from a resort to a nearby trail system.