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Committees Hold Down Costs, Find Funds for Major Projects

Residents show no resistance to investing in “broadband for all”

Baileys Harbor residents hope to go from having little or no internet service to the best possible service within a year or less.

Town board members this winter got a head start on seeking grants and engineers to deliver fiber for broadband internet to all premises in the town, and Baileys Harbor residents applauded the effort during the April 19 annual town meeting.

But guided by an all-volunteer committee led by town resident Kurt Kiefer – who retired as the state education department’s assistant state superintendent for libraries and technology – the town board got the ball rolling several weeks in advance of the town meeting. Town board members, Kiefer and broadband committee members decided to position the town for several major grants prior to the annual meeting by finding a project partner and completing a survey of residents.

Town Chair Don Sitte and the board members said this winter that if they saw opposition at the annual meeting from residents and property owners to the $5 million–plus project, they could still back out of it. But the survey indicated no resistance, and no one in the audience of 130 people at the town meeting voiced dissent.

Unlike in 2021, when residents voted to acquire the waterfront Nelson’s Hardware properties, no vote took place during this year’s meeting. Town Clerk Haley Adams said that because the town is not to the point of issuing bonds – and it has defined this as an infrastructure project – no vote was required.

Kiefer told the audience that all town premises should, within the next year or two, receive quality, high-speed internet for half the price of the internet service that’s currently available only in some portions of the town. Baileys Harbor has partnered with NSight Communications, which already has a backbone of fiber that zigzags to the tip of the peninsula and serves all premises on Washington Island.

Kiefer said Baileys Harbor is in a perfect position to win a $1.89 million Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) grant this year because its opinion survey is complete; it has a construction partner; and NSight will route fiber to every underserved and “unserved” location.

“The fact that we’re serving everybody is a big deal when they evaluate those things,” Kiefer said about their chances of receiving the grant.

If the town did not receive the grant and taxpayers had to foot the entire $5.2 million project expense, the annual tax increase per $100,000 of assessed value would be $69, said committee member Evan Webster. He said internet-service rates should drop from $100 or more per month to $50 per month per household, or $65 per business, which will allow town residents to spend $600 less per year and receive better service.

Webster said if the town wins the PSC grant, it would need to finance $2.9 million of the project, and tax bill increases would be $42 per $100,000 of valuation.

NSight’s Bob Webb said that NSight may need to bump up its price to the $60-$65 range within the next two years. At that price, Kiefer said taxpayers’ cost may be less than $42 per $100,000. 

Kiefer said the $5.2 million estimate took into account the cost – as of mid-winter 2021 – of delivering broadband fiber to every single premises in every corner of the township. In most locations, contractors working for NSight will use existing utility poles, and where they can’t, they’ll bury lines or install poles.

As a parent of young children, resident Kari Baumann said her family learned firsthand about the necessity of good internet service. During the pandemic, inadequate connectivity at their home did not always allow her child to participate in remote learning at Gibraltar.

“We pay for two services at our house and increased our cell phone data, and that still wasn’t enough,” Baumann said. “Having [fiber] come through our town, it’s not just being able to enjoy the luxuries of watching TV. It’s a life decision for our children.”

Committee Holds Down Nelson’s Property Costs

During the town meeting, David Eliot, former town board chair and the current chair of the Nelson Property Ad Hoc Committee, said his group has raised more than $1.1 million – in pledges and about $500,000 already in an account – to defray the initial costs of the Nelson’s site purchase and planning for the waterfront property and adjacent marina. 

The funds raised for the Baileys Harbor Open Space Preservation Fund will cover this year’s $600,000 payment on the note for the Nelson’s site purchase, plus the cost of the town hiring Edgewater Resources to help plan the future of the site and do grant writing to further cover costs, Eliot said. Edgewater Resources and the committee will schedule meetings with the public later this spring.

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