State Rep. David Steffen introduced himself to the Oconto County Board at the beginning of its July 18 monthly meeting.
After several court decisions that redrew the boundaries of state Assembly and Senate districts, Steffen’s 4th Assembly District — which used to stop at the Brown County line — now includes 10 towns, two cities and a village in southern Oconto County.
Large poster-sized maps of the new districts should be available now for officials and residents to see where the lines are, Steffen said.
He described himself as a father, husband and owner of a couple of small businesses in Howard, where he spent seven years on the village board before running for the legislature.
“I love how we can actually solve problems here at the county and local level,” Steffen said. “While it’s not as efficient down in Madison, it’s good to be in that level of service and trying to help the people.”
He talked briefly about the shared revenue legislation that doubled the amount of money that Oconto County will receive annually from the state.
“It used to be roughly $450,000 in shared revenue you received annually; that amount is now $900,000 every year for your use, for infrastructure, for law enforcement-related costs,” Steffen said. “Furthermore, unlike the way shared revenue was structured in the past, it is now structured so there is an inflationary element included that is tied to the sales tax, so as the state sales tax revenue increases, your percentage, your amount is directly congruent to that and increases as well.”
Steffen also left his business card and copies of his “progress report” mailer sent to households in his district, which was not sent to Oconto County addresses because the new borders don’t take effect until after the new legislature is seated in January.
wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com
Steffen says hello to Oconto County Board
