A $50 bill from city hall over blvd. sprinklers on hold … for now

Mayor says fee being reconsidered as owners are watering the lawns 

For now, bills from city hall for automatic sprinklers in La Crosse are on hold.

After a lot of complaints, the city is reevaluating its permit process for sprinklers that property owners have placed in boulevards.

The city’s board of public works was set to tackle the latest controversy involving permits and fees at a meeting tonight but that, too, is on hold.

The uproar started after permit applications went out to about 1,500 property owners with automatic sprinklers in boulevards, along with bills for a $50 application fee.

La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat said it makes sense for the city to keep track of where sprinklers on public property are for things like future street projects.

“To go along with that … it does cost some administrative funds,” he said. “That’s where the $50 fee came from.

“Some of the reaction, of course, you can understand that people are upset about that. The board of public works is going to take a look at that and come up with, perhaps, some plan going forward.”

Kabat says the city is reconsidering the permitting process for the sprinklers with the acknowledgement that those property owners are doing a service by keeping the boulevards green.