EC County reviews budget recommendation, moves toward sustainability goals
Oct. 3—EAU CLAIRE — The Eau Claire County Board will vote to approve the creation of a sustainability committee and receive the 2023 recommended $140.7 million budget at its meeting this evening.
The Eau Claire County Board of Supervisors will be given a report of the administrator's preliminary budget for 2023, given by County Administrator Kathryn Schauf.
Schauf's recommendation states: "the recommendation is predicated on three specific areas of investment: continuing to staff the courts, district attorney, and clerk of courts with adequate personnel to manage the sixth courtroom; investing in resources to update the out-of-date processes and practices in human resources, and investing in additional cross-functional patrol options."
Additional budget highlights include a 3% cost-of-living salary increase, continuing the partnership with lake districts to maintain the integrity of Lake Eau Claire and Lake Altoona, and a new negotiated health plan design that lowers a plan deductible, out of pocket maximum and removes the need to utilize a health reimbursement account.
A copy of the recommended budget is available to the public on the county website at https://www.co.eau-claire.wi.us/our-government/government-resources/2023-county-budget-information.
A public hearing will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 18, and Tuesday, Nov. 1, for community members to provide input on the recommended budget. The board will then vote on the final budget at the Nov. 1 meeting.
Additionally, tonight's meeting introduce a resolution approving the creation of a sustainability committee.
The County Board recently approved a resolution to approve and implement the Climate Action Resilience Plan.
This plan focuses on policy and purchasing for the county, energy consumption, county fleet, employee commute, internal and external education and collaboration with other organizations.
As a part of the implementation, the county needs to develop and create a Sustainability Advisory Committee to guide the action plan and pursue funding for the projects.
According to the fact sheet for the resolution, the Climate Action and Resilience Plan was developed to provide guidance to divisions and departments within the county on what strategies should be utilized from now until 2030 to meet the county's carbon neutrality goals and interim goal of 30% reduction by 2030.
The committee will be comprised of 11 individuals varying from stakeholders who represent municipalities, educational institutions, utilities, the agricultural community and members of the public.
An information packet provided to the County Board at their July meeting states, the county has already reached significant progress in reducing emissions and achieving neutrality. The county has decreased energy use for facilities by 28% from 2018 to 2021, 14% of total facility energy and 35% of electricity is from renewable energy sources as of 2020 and 30% of the county's sheriff fleet is now hybrid.
The county has also reused 100% of existing highway materials for various improvement projects as well as diverted over 214,000 pounds of electronics and household hazardous waste from the landfill in 2021.
The board will meet tonight at 7 p.m. in the Eau Claire County Courthouse.
