Marinette County May Soon Settle Another Opioid Lawsuit

Accepting a petition to designate Marinette County Highway BB as an ATV/UTV route is among items on the agenda for the monthly meeting of Marinette County Board starting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 28.  So far, action on the petition is not scheduled for the meeting, and referral to a committee is likely.

County Administrator John LeFebvre had reported at the Jan. 31 County Board meeting that Marinette County would be receiving nearly $2 million dollars over an 18-year period as its part of the settlement in a state-wide lawsuit against seven pharmaceutical companies that were blamed for helping cause the opioid addiction crisis, and at their March 28 meeting supervisors will be asked to authorize the county to enter into settlement agreements with five additional companies as recommended by the Administrative Committee at its meeting on Thursday, March 16. The amount that pending settlement will bring into Marinette County coffers is apparently not yet known. Marinette County is a party to that suit along with the State of Wisconsin and numerous other counties from around the state. The agreement provides for payment of up to 25 percent of the settlement amount to the law firms representing the state and participating counties.

Also on recommendation of the Administrative Committee, County Board is expected to defer monthly principal and interest payments for the Group Home Association for the remainder of the year, create a new Forester position to increase county income by speeding up timber harvest from Marinette County Forests to become closer to the sustainable level, and transfer ownership of a small parcel off Main Street near the railroad tracks in the City of Marinette to the city for $1.046, with the city to be responsible for any other related costs.

As recommended by the Health and Human Services Committee, and then the Administrative Committee, County Board is expected to approve elimination of a CSP Mental Health Case Manager position and creation of a Special Instruction Teacher position immediately.

In a Feb. 8 letter to LeFebvre, Public Health Officer Molly Bonjean said the CSP Mental Health Case Manager position is currently vacant. She said the change is recommended to meet an increasing demand for early intervention services for children up to three years old.

“The birth to 3 Program is comprised of two full time team members and it has been that way for almost 30 years,” Bonjean wrote. “During that time, the number of enrollments, complexity of cases, and reporting requirements have all increased, but the number of staff providing the service has remained the same.”

In 2022 the average monthly enrollment in the program was 66 kids, Bonjean said, which means each of the two team members has a caseload of about 30 to 35 kids a month. In 2014 the average total monthly enrollment was 40 kids, meaning each case worker had a caseload of 20 kids. She said the number of referrals has gone up continuously, and predicted it will continue to increase.

“Our Birth to 3 team members are very passionate about the work they do and want to help the kids they serve get the best start at life,” she declared, and gave information about extra hours worked by the current two Birth to 3 teachers, and help they received form others on the HHS staff.

At the Administrative Committee meeting Finance Director Laura Mans reported that overall figures for the $69.5 million 2022 Marinette County budget are nearly complete, except for a few grants and invoices that continue to straggle in. She said they have been moving every penny possible from 2022 into the 2023 budget,  except for money in designated funds. All in all, after a number of transfers from accounts that ended the year with positive balances into accounts that ended in the negative, a total of $112,065.30 was transferred from the undesignated General Fund to cover the gap.

“So when all is said and done, we overspent by $112,065.30 in 2022....You can’t come much closer than that!” LeFebvre declared.

Mans reported that in December of 2022 the County’s Sales Tax receipts were $78,000 higher than they had been in December of 2021. To comments that this might mean an improving economy, County Board Chair John Guarisco pointed out that a 10 percent increase in prices results in a 10 percent increase in sales taxes collected, so much of the additional $78,000 may be a result of inflation that sent prices soaring.

Regardless of the cause, Marinette County Sales Tax receipts are supposed to be used only for debt retirement or capital investment projects. Mans said the county is “sitting at a good spot” in terms of money available for debt retirement.

Later in the meeting LeFebvre suggested using some of the debt retirement fund for a road improvement program and levying for debt retirement, which is allowed by state law while increases in property taxes for road improvements are not.

Mans said they budget for 11 miles of county road improvements a year to stay on a 30-year rotation, but they fall a little farther behind every year.

Discussion on needed road improvements included County I (formerly Parkway Road) which leads to the popular Goodman and McClintock Parks and runs from County C to Hwy. 8. LeFebvre explained it was a town road that the county had taken over, but the entire 12 miles remains a somewhat narrow gravel road.

LeFebvre said there has been talk of widening the entire length, and hopefully some day paving it.
Work needed on County O in Niagara will cost about $13 million.

Guarisco noted that County L in Beecher has now been repaired, and wondered if the town would take it back. It was converted from a town road into a county road some years ago because of the traffic generated by Northland College, which is now closed, so the traffic is greatly reduced. As to current conditions of roads,

Guarisco commented that at this time of year in Wisconsin, all roads are bad.

LeFebvre said he is suggesting that they bond every year for road construction, since they can tax real estate for debt retirement, and use that money for work on roads.

“I don’t want to be bonding every year if we don’t have to,” declared Supervisor Rick Polzin, who chairs the Administrative committee. He said there have been suggestions that they should pay for road improvements with  money that was put into the tax reduction fund years ago after sale of the former Marinette General Hospital.

Mans said at the end of 2021 there was a little over $6 million in that Tax Reduction fund, and there is almost $11 available in the General fund. LeFebvre cautioned that they need to keep healthy fund  balances if they want to keep an excellent bond rating.

LeFebvre said he is again suggesting a registration fee on vehicles. In the face of public objections, County Board had rejected that proposal last year.

Guarisco noted the county pays interest on money it borrows, while in the current markets it earns very little on money it invests. He asked if it is ever a good idea to use money already in county funds and then replace it, and if they could take back some of the money already invested to pay for the road improvements.

Guarisco also said they have some investment accounts that are now earning .85 percent, while there is an opportunity to earn 5 percent returns if they could re-invest it. Mans is to have a report for next month.