Hubert Hoffman is 49 years old and lives in Onalaska with his wife Chelsae and their children. He has been an active member of the greater La Crosse area since he was a student at UW-La Crosse. Hubert has lived in Onalaska for over fifteen years and has served the community as a foster parent for both adults and children (adopting three special needs children), taught hunter safety education, served on the Holmen School District School Safety Committee, and donated countless hours to local organizations dedicated to helping troubled and special needs children.
Hubert was elected to the La Crosse County Board in April of 2014 and is currently serving his first term as District 19 Supervisor. He currently sits on the La Crosse County Property, Resources, and Development committee, Lake Onalaska Protection and Rehabilitation District, the Administrative Center and Downtown Campus Construction Committee (ACDCC), the Town of Onalaska Ordinance Committee, and the Town of Onalaska Firearms and Archery Committee.
Regarding UW-Extension, and the county board’s position:
As a member of the PR&D committee, I have been on the forefront of the “restructuring” of UW-Extension. UW-Extension has been a valuable asset to all La Crosse County residents for over 100 years, a true cooperative between the County and the University. The plan put forth by Chancellor Sandeen is nothing more than a hatchet job designed to destroy UW-Extension. Cutting the educator positions and adding an additional bureaucratic level under the guise of saving money is a waste of epic proportion. I stand opposed to the wasteful restructuring of UW-Extension and will continue to work to help keep all UW-Extension services for La Crosse County residents.
Regarding Neighborhood revitalization grants:
I understand the City/County desire to try to increase property values (tax base) in the City of La Crosse, so more tax dollars can be taken in and spent by both entities. The concern here is twofold. First, I believe we should be concentrating on improving the economy by bringing good, high paying, jobs into La Crosse and La Crosse County rather than trying to social engineer neighborhoods in the city of La Crosse; when we have more pressing issues like roadways, illegal drugs, and the massive amount of debt hanging over La Crosse County residents. The second concern is gentrification. The process by which property values are increased and lower income families are displaced. Most often, these types of programs don’t help lower income residents become home owners; rather they simply displace lower income residents.
Regarding County highway system:
Here again, there are multiple issues to be considered. First, is the total miles of County Highways and the approximate $50M of road construction projects needing attention in La Crosse County today. Even with full funding, it would take approximately 10 years to complete the current backlog. Second, is the realization that it is not the moms and dads driving the family car that are causing the most damage to our highway infrastructure, it is large trucks and other heavy equipment.
We not only need to look at alternative funding sources, possibly some of the “excess sales tax,” possibly an indexed gas tax at the state level with assurances that the dollars taken in over the current level would remain local, a greater amount of federal funding for infrastructure, but we also need to ensure the vehicles putting the most stress on the system contribute fairly as well.
Several supervisors supported putting a “vehicle registration tax” question on this April ballot, so we could here directly from the voters regarding a county tax increase to be spent on county roads, but the same partisan group who prevented people from voting in 2014, blocked the referendum.
Regarding challenges facing La Crosse County:
The biggest challenges facing all of La Crosse County are domestic abuse, and illegal drugs use. Solutions to these issues need to provide a balance between education, prevention, treatment, and enforcement without placing a huge financial burden on the taxpayers.
The biggest challenge the County Board will face is the looming debt crisis. $110Million of debt, large increases in debt service over the next three years, coupled with state caps on property taxes means the La Crosse County Board will face some difficult budget challenges in the coming years.
Hubert was elected to the La Crosse County Board in April of 2014 and is currently serving his first term as District 19 Supervisor. He currently sits on the La Crosse County Property, Resources, and Development committee, Lake Onalaska Protection and Rehabilitation District, the Administrative Center and Downtown Campus Construction Committee (ACDCC), the Town of Onalaska Ordinance Committee, and the Town of Onalaska Firearms and Archery Committee.
Regarding UW-Extension, and the county board’s position:
As a member of the PR&D committee, I have been on the forefront of the “restructuring” of UW-Extension. UW-Extension has been a valuable asset to all La Crosse County residents for over 100 years, a true cooperative between the County and the University. The plan put forth by Chancellor Sandeen is nothing more than a hatchet job designed to destroy UW-Extension. Cutting the educator positions and adding an additional bureaucratic level under the guise of saving money is a waste of epic proportion. I stand opposed to the wasteful restructuring of UW-Extension and will continue to work to help keep all UW-Extension services for La Crosse County residents.
Regarding Neighborhood revitalization grants:
I understand the City/County desire to try to increase property values (tax base) in the City of La Crosse, so more tax dollars can be taken in and spent by both entities. The concern here is twofold. First, I believe we should be concentrating on improving the economy by bringing good, high paying, jobs into La Crosse and La Crosse County rather than trying to social engineer neighborhoods in the city of La Crosse; when we have more pressing issues like roadways, illegal drugs, and the massive amount of debt hanging over La Crosse County residents. The second concern is gentrification. The process by which property values are increased and lower income families are displaced. Most often, these types of programs don’t help lower income residents become home owners; rather they simply displace lower income residents.
Regarding County highway system:
Here again, there are multiple issues to be considered. First, is the total miles of County Highways and the approximate $50M of road construction projects needing attention in La Crosse County today. Even with full funding, it would take approximately 10 years to complete the current backlog. Second, is the realization that it is not the moms and dads driving the family car that are causing the most damage to our highway infrastructure, it is large trucks and other heavy equipment.
We not only need to look at alternative funding sources, possibly some of the “excess sales tax,” possibly an indexed gas tax at the state level with assurances that the dollars taken in over the current level would remain local, a greater amount of federal funding for infrastructure, but we also need to ensure the vehicles putting the most stress on the system contribute fairly as well.
Several supervisors supported putting a “vehicle registration tax” question on this April ballot, so we could here directly from the voters regarding a county tax increase to be spent on county roads, but the same partisan group who prevented people from voting in 2014, blocked the referendum.
Regarding challenges facing La Crosse County:
The biggest challenges facing all of La Crosse County are domestic abuse, and illegal drugs use. Solutions to these issues need to provide a balance between education, prevention, treatment, and enforcement without placing a huge financial burden on the taxpayers.
The biggest challenge the County Board will face is the looming debt crisis. $110Million of debt, large increases in debt service over the next three years, coupled with state caps on property taxes means the La Crosse County Board will face some difficult budget challenges in the coming years.
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