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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016
TWO SECTIONS
75 CENTS
Marinette residents to get tax cut Mill rate drops by nearly $2 per $1,000 of value
By EMMA KUHN EagleHerald staff writer ekuhn@eagleherald.com
MARINETTE — The City of Marinette approved its budget for the 2017 fiscal year on Wednesday evening with unanimous backing from the members of the City Council during a special meeting. The 2017 financial plan and tax levy for the city was approved by all members of the City Council in attendance. Marinette will see an increase in expenditures of about $134,000 in 2017, including the new recreation center Genisot planned for construction on Pierce Avenue next to Marinette High School. However, Marinette residents will actually see a decrease from last year’s tax levy under the new 2017 City Budget tax levy rate. The mill rate for 2016 was $23.18 for every $1,000 in property value, but the mill rate for 2017 will drop down to $21.30 on $1,000 of property. The owner of a home assessed at $100,000 will pay $2,130 in 2017 as opposed to $2,318 in 2016, a decrease of about $188. With the decline in the mill rate people can expect a decrease on their tax bill, assuming the value of their home did not increase. While a majority of the financial plan was accepted
immediately by the council, Ward 8 Alderman Jason Flatt asked why the city had not earmarked specific funds in the budget for the repairs and maintenance to the Forest Home Cemetery Chapel, a project which was proposed to the city by the Historic Preservation Commission earlier in the year. Finance Director Jacqueline Miller said $100,000 had been set aside in the capital outlay fund for the city, with $37,500 for use on the chapel, despite it not being listed specifically for the project. However, she added it was hard to budget for something when the Finance & Insurance Committee never received a set amount of money to save for the project. “Literally, I have not seen a projected cost,” she said. “I don’t know that we’ve even had an architect come in and say ‘this is what it’s going to cost us’ at this point.” Flatt pointed out there was a request for $5,000 to fund an architectural study of the building which was not approved. “It’s frustrating for all of us, of course, to hear that we don’t have that architectural study because we don’t budget anything, yet we refuse to budget for the architectural study,” he said. Mayor Steve Genisot said the city had not forgotten the project, but stabilization of the building should be prioritized over complete repair and renovation. See BUDGET, A3
Wisconsin begins task of recount
A new home
EagleHerald/Rick Gebhard
Habitat for Humanity worker Tami Vargas (left) and Anne Hultman, Menominee, place figurines in the nativity scene at the Abundant Life Church & Mission Thursday on 10th Avenue in Menominee. The homeless shelter is the new home for the scene after it was determined the previous location at the Great Lakes Marina Band Shell shell violated a city resolution.
Menominee doesn’t have to pay state for work on 2015 tax roll
By PENNY MULLINS EagleHerald news editor/digital director pmullins@eagleherald.com
MENOMINEE — The city of Menominee will not be charged for work the state did on its 2015 tax roll. Heather Frick, director of the Michigan Department of Treasury State Tax Commission, and two public information officers from the treasury department, spoke with the EagleHerald via telephone conference Wednesday, and answered questions about the commission’s decision Tuesday to assume jurisdiction of Menominee’s 2016 tax roll. Frick said Edward VanderVries, who was contracted by the state to fix the problems with Menominee’s 2016 tax roll, is a master level assessor whose services are often engaged by the state for educational programs. “He is very well respected in the state,”
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“Because Menominee was under the normal cycle for an AMAR review, there is no cost to the city.” Danelle Gittus Michigan treasury department she said. Even though VanderVries was hired by the state, the city will eventually have to pay for his services. Frick said it is difficult to estimate what the total cost may be. Frick was asked what VanderVries’ involvement would be with the 2015 tax roll, which was assumed by the state about a year ago, and what the
Area native is an impressive ‘Forged of Fire’ champion
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By CHELSEA EWALDT EagleHerald staff writer cewaldt@eagleherald.com
The Associated Press
Rick Goeckner, center, of Newburg, takes a collection of ballots that were recounted from tabulators during a statewide presidential election recount Thursday in West Bend, Wis. Even so, the campaigns for Trump, Clinton and Stein all had observers spread throughout the state to watch the process. The recount will have to move quickly. The federal deadline to certify the vote to avoid having the fate of Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes decided by Congress is Dec. 13. Even if that were to happen, the votes would almost certainly go to Trump, since Republicans control both chambers of Congress. Most counties will manually recount the ballots, although Stein lost a court challenge this week to force hand recounts everywhere. The state’s largest county, Milwaukee, was recounting the ballots by feeding them through
DEATHS
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Nocerini, Marlene A. Plutchak, Mae A. Stillman, James Sunstrom, Eric 5
See TAX ROLL, A3
A cut above
By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. — The tedious task of recounting Wisconsin’s nearly 3 million votes for president began Thursday with scores of hastily hired temporary workers flipping through stacks of ballots as observers watched their every move. The action in Wisconsin could soon be duplicated in Michigan and Pennsylvania, where Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was pushing for recounts. Donald Trump narrowly beat Hillary Clinton in all three states, but recounts were not expected to flip nearly enough votes to change the outcome in any of the states. The Wisconsin recount marked the first time in 16 years there was a candidate-driven recount of a presidential recount. But it does not carry the same drama as the Florida presidential recount of 2000, when the outcome of the election between Al Gore and George W. Bush hung in the balance. “This is certainly not Bush v. Gore,” said Wisconsin’s chief elections administrator, Mike Haas.
city would be charged for work done to review that data. After consulting with other staff members, Public Information Officer Danelle Gittus, one of the two staff members on the original conference call, reported that nothing will be done to change the 2015 tax roll and the city will not be charged for any work done to review it. “The 2015 tax roll was assumed because it was not signed,” she said in a later telephone call. “Because Menominee was under the normal cycle for an AMAR review, there is no cost to the city.” The state has a recurring plan to complete an AMAR review of each county in Michigan, selecting a certain number of counties each year. AMAR, or Audit of Minimum Assessing Requirements, looks at a municipality’s books, papers, docu-
Details on A5
the same machines that counted them on election night. In Dane County, where Clinton won 71 percent of the vote, the ballots were being counted by hand. Workers in Dane County are being paid $20 an hour and will work two shifts over about 12 hours a day to get the recount done by the deadline, said County Clerk Scott McDonell. He didn’t expect much change in the results. “I think we will be very close to what was reported on election night,” McDonell said Thursday. Clinton lost to Trump by about 22,000 votes in Wisconsin, or less than a percentage point. See RECOUNT, A3
INSIDE Nation: President-elect Donald Trump will nominate a retired general for defense post. A3 Sports: A scoring drought hurt the Menominee girls’ basketball team in a season opener. B1
A Stephenson native was recently featured on the History Channel’s original competition series “Forged in Fire.” Pete Winkler, 63, who has been bladesmithing for four years, was named a “Forged in Fire” champion. The episode, “The Pandat,” aired on Oct. 18. “I was born to be a knife maker, but I’m a grandpa first,” said Winkler, who lives in Ohio. “We have 24 grandchildren and I look forward to passing on the craft to them.” According to the History Channel’s website, “‘Forged in Fire’ features world-class bladesmiths competing to create history’s most iconic edged weapons. In each episode, four of the nation’s finest bladesmiths come together to put their skill and reputations on the line to win the $10,000 prize. They use traditional and state-of-the art tools to turn raw metal into authentic, fully functional implements of war. These weapons must stand
up to the critical assessment and ruthless testing of our panel of experts. They all enter as skilled bladesmiths.” In Winkler’s Winkler episode, he along with three other bladesmiths, needed to salvage steel from a junkyard to create a signature blade using a handcranked coal forge for the first round. Due to the difficulty of the round, the contestants had four hours to complete it. Winkler chose ash spring as the material he would create his blade from. “These rounds are designed to test every aspect of your blade making capabilities,” he said. “Instead of having hot gas forges, we were required to use a coal forge which made it difficult. That was a little different horse to ride, and I struggled with it.” The second round required contestants to attach a handle to turn it into a functional weapon. However, they were required to See WINKLER, A3
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