La Crosse to make surrounding communities pay

Holmen opted out of $2 million
fee imposed by La Crosse for sewage

A sewer-connection fee won’t be the last the city of La Crosse charges surrounding communities for services. 

La Crosse mayor Tim Kabat says a fee to hook up to the city’s sewage treatment plant is just the start of ways for the city to recapture money it spends providing services other communities, up until now, have enjoyed for free

“It’s a recognition that we are providing regional services and,” Kabat said, “up to this point, for the vast majority of them, city taxpayers have been paying to maintain and take care of those services.”

The village of Holmen has opted out of a plan to hook up to the city’s sewage treatment plant, after learning the fee to do so would be more than $2 million.

In light of the fee, after three years of negotiating a plan to hook up to La Crosse, Holmen plans to build a new $15 million sewage treatment plant instead.