Town of Avon,

Important change regarding how you pay your property taxes

You will be receiving your 2023 property tax bill sometime in early December.

Payments must be made directly to the Rock County Treasurer this year.

Do not mail payment to the Town of Avon Treasurer, and under no uncertain terms are you to hand-deliver your payment to the Town of Avon Treasurer’s home or place of business.

Also, if your bank pays your property taxes for you, it is your responsibility to notify them that payment should be sent directly to the Rock County Treasurer. Payments sent directly to the Town of Avon Treasurer will require additional processing time, which will significantly increase your risk of becoming delinquent.

Detailed instructions on how to pay your property taxes to the Rock County Treasurer will be included with the 2023 property tax bill you should be receiving in the mail sometime in early December.

In the meantime, visit the link below for insights on making payments to the Rock County Treasurer.

https://www.co.rock.wi.us/departments/treasurer/paying-property-taxes

Roads are open

The Avon Town Board is pleased to announce that our township roads are now open to travel by ATV/UTV.  Thank you for your patience and drive safely.

ATV/UTV Ordinance

Avon teen completes cemetery cleanup project

For his Senior Project, Brodhead High School Class of 2022 graduate Dakota Schwartzlow wanted to make a difference in his community. Dakota, who resides in the Town of Avon, made the decision to clean up a local cemetery that was in need of some care.

The cemetery is the Northrup Cemetery, which is located on W Avon North Townline Rd in the Town of Avon. The Northrup Cemetery mostly contains burials from the 1800’s and the most recent burial is believed to have been in 1946. Burial records for the cemetery do not exit as they were destroyed in a fire, said Duane Niedermeier, who served on the Avon Town Board for 49 years. During Duane’s tenure on the board, which ended in 2020, there was not a single burial at the cemetery.

The cemetery has been tended to with the lawn being mowed regularly, however the tree and brush growth had been left unmaintained. Dakota’s project included trimming trees and cutting back the overgrowth, which greatly improved the appearance of the cemetery. During his efforts, Dakota even discovered several graves that had been hidden over the years in the overgrowth.

On behalf of the Avon Town Board, I would like to thank Dakota for his hard work and congratulate him on a successful Senior Project.

Allen Peters – Town of Avon Supervisor 1

Open Meeting Rules of Decorum

For meetings of the Avon Town Board and its affiliated committees

Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law attempts to promote openness in government and to provide citizens with an opportunity to observe and educate themselves about government operations.

However, it should be noted that the general right of citizens to observe local government meetings does not inherently give them the right to participate. A local governing body retains the right to permit and regulate citizen participation at meetings as it deems necessary.

The Avon Town Board has deemed it necessary to allow for public input during its meetings. That said, the Town Board has also deemed it necessary to maintain order at said meetings, minimizing the opportunities for hostility, redundancy and overall inefficiency.

Therefore, the following Rules of Decorum are established:

No interruptions.

Never engage in argument or any discussion with another member of the public.

All comments must be directed to the Board.

Each citizen will be granted one 3-minute period during public input to deliver his or her remarks.

The Board, at its discretion, may choose to ask follow-up questions after a citizen delivers his or her remarks.

Do not exhibit disorderly behavior. Town of Avon Ordinance 2021-04 prohibits disorderly conduct. Disorderly conduct is defined as follows: Engaging in violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct under circumstances in which the conduct tends to cause or provoke a disturbance. Any person engaging in such conduct is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

Thank you.

Avon eyes up federal funding

Stephanie Schwartzlow, Avon town clerk, has been working tirelessly to ensure that the Town of Avon receives its federal funding allocation of roughly $64,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

The deadline to submit all necessary applications and paperwork is June 18.

As of June 15, it is reported that 2/3 of Wisconsin towns had yet to begin their filing.

Thanks to our town clerk, Avon is not in that boat. We should be receiving our funding in a matter of weeks, if not days!

Why are we getting this money? There is a component to ARPA referred to as the Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Funds. This funding program is designed to help state and local governments address the economic damage caused by the pandemic, as well as make investments in pandemic mitigation techniques and certain infrastructure including broadband and water/sewer.

Once the money is in Avon’s bank account, we have until the end of 2024 to spend it.

What can we spend it on? Like many large federal spending bills, ARPA is a little confusing. There are limitations to what a town can spend this money on, and the rules continue to evolve. The Town Board will continue analyzing the rules to determine where this money would be best invested. Options may include:

• HVAC equipment
• Town hall improvements
• Roads and culverts

There is plenty more to come on this important issue. Again, we have until the end of 2024 to spend this money. The best approach will be to move forward cautiously and pragmatically to ensure that every dollar is invested wisely.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images.