Imagine a rich land of luxurious homes and natural areas, protected by 20 mph speed limits and bike cops. A place where you can live without high property taxes or a tyrannical city hall, but still enjoy all the benefits of a large city. Stop dreaming'move to Monona or the village of Shorewood Hills.
It's an unwritten rule in Madison that you must never speed past the village of Shorewood Hills. The village has a specially trained cadre of intern police officers that will pull you over if you happen to think, like the rest of the world, that a reasonable residential speed limit is 25 mph.
The village, and its east-side rival, Monona, is the perfect place to live in upscale luxury. Both towns enjoy being part of the Madison Metropolitan School District, but also being separate from the city. In fact, the city of Madison surrounds both towns, so that Monona and Shorewood Hills end up being islands of luxury.
Yet the evil empire, represented by Madison Mayor Sue Bauman, is once again threatening those islands. At least that is what Monona Mayor Tom Metcalfe would have you believe. According to Metcalfe, Bauman's interest in a new state law that would make it easier for Madison to annex and control small towns is just another example of Madison's blatantly imperialistic tendencies.
With the French national anthem on their lips, Monona and Shorewood Hills residents are forming their battalions in defense of small-town republicanism. No big government is going to force its will upon a committed group of citizens, even if those citizens are robbing Madison blind.
Monona and Shorewood Hills represent what could be the largest tax bases in Madison. Both areas house some of the richest residents of the Madison area. You know, the ones who attend the Frosty Ball. Yet both towns do not contribute money to help the city of Madison fund its many public services that indirectly benefit the towns' residents.
For example, Shorewood residents do not have to pay for police or fire protection or public works in any of the surrounding neighborhoods. The village pays for its own fire and police protection, as well as various other neighborhood projects. Although many of these projects are quite good, it means that the rest of Madison must suffer.
For instance, Shorewood Hills has its own municipal pool. Shorewood residents receive special access to the pool, whereas the rest of Madison must pay a large membership fee in order to join. In contrast, Madison has the Madison School and Community Recreation Program, which is a low-cost opportunity for all Madison residents to participate in sports leagues. MSCR has no similar restriction on Monona or Shorewood Hills residents.
The Overture Center, the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, the State Street Design Project and all the other projects that make living in the Madison area so rich (and disproportionately benefit the rich) are not paid for by Monona or Shorewood Hills residents.
Shorewood Hills and Monona are much like the Cayman Islands. They are a tax haven for rich Madison residents who don't want to pay Madison taxes. Sure, the Cayman Islands are certainly a wonderful place to be, but it means that the rest of the tax-paying public has to foot the rest of the bill.
Zoning laws have helped protect places like Monona and Shorewood Hills from the encroaching city of Madison, but in doing so they have created enclaves of essentially Madison residents paying lower property taxes while enjoying higher property values.
Why is Bauman suddenly pushing for new laws to allow for annexation of these islands? Imagine adding an extra million dollars or so to the property tax base of the city of Madison. The expected budget shortfall would not be quite so large, basic city services would not suffer as much from the cuts and perhaps the programs that benefit low-income residents in Madison might escape the chopping blocks.
I respect the efforts of Monona and Shorewood Hills to remain independent and unique. In fact, I even worked for the village of Shorewood Hills as a Parks Department intern (there were three of us in the department), but when the budget is squeezed to the breaking point in Madison, it becomes apparent that Shorewood Hills and Monona residents have been living off the relative generosity of their poorer-per-capita neighbors.
The passage of a state law that would at least make it easier to negotiate with towns that exist inside the borders of Madison would not result in imperial dominance. However much the Isthmus might like to call Mayor Bauman a tyrant, in this case she is fighting for the little people.
