State cuts off money to Kenosha

MADISON — Payments from the state to Kenosha and Janesville have temporarily been blocked, and the two cities may have to pay back money they’ve received the past two years.

The action came as the result of an anonymous tip left with a state lawmaker and the Legislative Audit Bureau.

The tip alleged the two cities were receiving payments from the state for police services that weren’t provided at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, which is in Somers, and the University of Wisconsin-Rock County, in Janesville.

State Rep. Kitty Rhoades from Hudson received the tip and as co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee temporarily stopped payments.

That puts nearly $22 million in payments available to towns, villages and cities across the state this year on hold until the issue is resolved. Kenosha is scheduled to get more than $472,000 and Janesville is to get nearly $115,000.

The state Department of Administration, which runs the Municipal Service Payment program, said it was aware of the problem and was working with the communities to fix it.

In a Dec. 2 letter to the co-chairs of the budget committee, DOA deputy administrator Harald Jordahl said it was not known how long the payments had been made in error. However, the department is only authorized to recover payments made in the past two years, Jordahl said in the letter.

Over the past two years Janesville received nearly $81,000 more than it should have and Kenosha got about $355,000 more, according to DOA.

Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman said he heard about this item on Thursday. But Bosman said this funding is mostly out of the city’s hands.

“The state dictates to us what they give us for services for Parkside,” Bosman said.

Bosman said he would look further into this situation today.

“We’ll get to the bottom of it,” Bosman said.

Jordahl said the problem was due to “an error in the program calculations affecting the two communities.” He said the problem was isolated to Janesville and Kenosha.

The cities were paid too much money under the state program because they were being reimbursed for police services that actually were being provided by others, not the cities, Jordahl said.

The University of Wisconsin-Parkside does have its own officers, with both the city and Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department providing backup or taking over investigations as needed. To what depth the state wants the city involved in order to qualify for full funding remains to be seen.

Jordahl said the state department was working with the cities to negotiate a mutually agreeable repayment plan and will reduce future payments accordingly. Compared to last year, payments to Kenosha will be reduced by $165,572 and to Janesville by $32,253, under the new correct calculation.

State Auditor Jan Mueller said her office was waiting to see what action the Legislature’s budget committee takes to resolve the issue before deciding whether to pursue further investigation into the tip.