The Necedah Village Board voted to amend the village’s zoning district boundaries and zoning district map regarding the DNR Station at 400 Birch Street and the property at 807 John Street at its monthly meeting on Monday night. Village Administrator Roger Herried said those properties would be zoned to institutional because it is more consistent with the use than the existing Rural Development Zoning. Herried also said the DNR Station has existing buildings and the use is governmental service and the other property will be used for governmental services, such as Ambulance and Police.
The board decided to postpone a decision regarding a permit to allow a small craft distillery in a residentially zoned property. The permit was applied for by Ronan and Andrea Staff for Old School Spirits Craft Distillery on 600 S. Main Street. The village board wanted to meet the developer to discuss the project further. Herried said some concerns raised by the two of the residents were the truck traffic, storage of materials and compatibility with the neighborhood.
Herried also talked about the local impacts regarding the proposed state budget. He said the Governor recommends no changes to property tax levy limits, and the biggest surprise was the Governor recommending changing the property tax assessment process from a municipality-based system to a county-based system. These changes would begin in 2016 and be completed by the 2017 property assessment year. Herried said in an email:
“Under this system, counties and municipalities over 30,000 in population that opt out of county assessment, would be required to annually assess each property at 100 percent of fair market value. Counties may form multi-county assessment regions at their discretion. Boards of review, except for larger municipalities that have opted out of the countywide system, would be consolidated at the county or regional level. The counties would charge cities, villages and towns for the cost of county wide assessment. The maximum annual amount a municipality could be charged is 95% of what a municipality previously paid for assessment services in a base year. DOR [The Department of Revenue] would maintain oversight of the property assessment system, including licensing and standards for assessors. The Governor also recommends various reforms to assessor standards, including requiring uniform training and continuing education for assessors.”
The Necedah Village Board usually meets the second Monday of the month at 7:00pm at the Village Hall.