OUR VIEW: Now is the time to consider running | Hudson Star-Observer | Hudson, Wisconsin

OUR VIEW: Now is the time to consider running | Hudson Star-Observer | Hudson, Wisconsin: "It is too early to tell in most municipalities if incumbents in each of the positions will run again. Some will, some won't. That, of course, should not discourage a citizen who is interested in seeking office. When voters are offered a choice, it brings more people to the polls and gives citizens options to consider."

2013 SPRING ELECTION NOTICE

NOTICE OF SPRING ELECTION

TOWN OF CADY

APRIL 2, 2013

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that at an election to be held in the Town of Cady, on Tuesday, April 2, 2013, the following offices are to be elected to succeed the present incumbents listed. All terms are for two years beginning on Tuesday, April 16, 2013.

Office                                           Incumbent
Town Board Chairman                  Mike Tully
Town Board Supervisor                Bob Klanderman
Town Board Supervisor                Jim Mikla
Town Clerk                                  Carla Greiber
Town Treasurer                            Teresa Trealoff

NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN, that a town caucus for the purpose of nominating candidates to appear on the spring election ballot for the above listed offices will be scheduled during the month of January. The caucus will be held on a date not sooner than January 1, 2013 and not later than January 29, 2013. Notice of the scheduled date of the caucus will be given at least five days before the caucus.

Cady Town Caucus

Coming up this January, the Town of Cady will hold their caucus meeting to nominate candidates for town officers. All of the elected town officers' seats are for two-year terms and will be up for election in April 2013. To be on the ballot in April, candidates are nominated at the caucus held in January. The date of the January caucus will be announced sometime in December.

Information on the nomination process can be found here: PROCEDURES FOR NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES BY CAUCUS

The electors of the town are given the opportunity to nominate candidates for the town officer elections to be held in April.

The town officer positions are as follows:

• Town Chairman
• Town Supervisors (2)
• Town Clerk
• Town Treasurer

Information on the job descriptions can be found here: Town Officer Job Descriptions

Fall 2013 General Election

While voting for national, state, and local representatives today, there is also an issue on the ballot that concerns Cady residents only. So if you vote provisionally at another polling location, you won't have an opportunity to vote on the Cady Town Clerk Referendum. You'll have to vote at the Cady Town Hall to get a ballot with the referendum on it if you haven't already voted absentee.

You can review a sample ballot here: SAMPLE BALLOT

SPECIAL TOWN MEETING OF THE ELECTORS

Today is the day for the SPECIAL TOWN MEETING OF THE ELECTORS beginning at 8:00PM at the Cady Town Hall. The "electors" of the Town of Cady are invited to discuss the proposed 2013 town budget, and to vote on the proposed 2013 town property tax levy of $220,175.

Property Assessment and Tax Process

According to the Local Government Center and UW-Extension office:

Administration of the property tax takes place locally, subject to detailed statutory control established by the Legislature. The elements are simple: identify all property through real property listing and personal property assessing, establish the value of the property through assessment, apply the tax rates (determined by the amount of taxes levied by the taxing jurisdictions in which the property lies) to the assessed value, compute the total taxes due plus special assessments and charges after applying all state credits, send tax bills to the property owners, and collect the payments of taxes. After taxes have been collected, proper amounts are distributed to the taxing jurisdictions (school, sewerage, sanitary, TCDB, and lake management districts; the county; the State of Wisconsin, for its forestry tax; and the municipality where the property is located).

Therefore, the process goes like this:

1. Identify and Assess the value of all property within the taxing jurisdiction.

This is where the government assesses what your property is worth. It is important that you get involved at this step by understanding how your property should be assessed and then ensuring that it is indeed assessed properly. See the "2012 Guide for Property Owners" and the "Agricultural Assessment Guide For Wisconsin Property Owners 2012" for guidance on determining how your property should be assessed. Then, you can review your tax bill at the St. Croix County Land Information Online to see how your property is actually being assessed.

If you notice that your property is not being assessed properly, you can go to the annual Open Book & Board of Review held at the Town Hall, usually in May or June of each year.You can discuss your assessment with the town's assessor and see if you can't get your assessment value adjusted to the proper amount. If you're unsuccessful there, you can try the Property Assessment Appeal Guide and appeal your assessment to a higher authority.

2.  Apply the tax rates

This is used to determine each person's share of the tax burden. Your property lies in several tax jurisdictions.You're part of the Wisconsin State jurisdiction, St. Croix County jurisdiction, Town of Cady jurisdiction, and either Spring Valley or Baldwin/Woodville School District jurisdiction. Each of these tax jurisdictions have levied a tax against your property and this is called the Equalized Value of all taxable real and personal property.

Your involvement at this point is to make sure that you're aware of any referenda that are on ballots at either fall or spring elections. Spring elections are a popular place to put school levy referenda that impact your property taxes. Remember the St. Croix County nursing home referendum?

You must also carefully consider the representatives that we elect to the county board, state senate and state assembly. They will vote on how your property taxes are to be spent at the state and county level.

Also, being a resident of a town in the state of Wisconsin, you can participate in the annual meeting to adopt the tax levy for your town each year. This meeting is going to be held on November 5, 2012 at 8:00PM at the Cady Town Hall. This is a unique privilege enjoyed by towns in Wisconsin that residents of cities and villages do not have. 

3. Compute total taxes due

Now your "tax rate" and the various "levies" come together to put a dollar value on your share of the overall tax burdens for all of the jurisdictions that you are in. This is the number that shows up on your annual tax bill.

4.  Collect taxes and distribute to taxing jurisdictions

Your town treasurer is responsible for this portion of the process.

Additional information can be found at the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Property Tax Common Questions web page.