Kabat ready to enact another roads first spending plan for La Crosse

Just some tweaks left in the big spending plans for next year in the city of La Crosse.

Operating and capital improvement budgets are coming down to final votes.

The toughest choices for spending priorities came on things like roads and parks.

The city council is set to decide on the spending plan, which includes $5 million in road fixes for La Crosse next year — including $2 million for repaving another long stretch of Losey Boulevard. The $5 million is, by far, the biggest chunk of infrastructure spending for 2019.

Although projects like a $1.9 million pickleball and tennis facility are also in line for funding.

“We’ve been very creative in not using borrowed money for many of those park projects,” Mayor Tim Kabat told WIZM. “Many of them are using private fundraising and we’re able to use, for example, either grants or TIF cash.”

By “TIF cash” Kabat means money from any one of the city’s several complicated tax incremental finance districts. The All-Abilities Trane Park is getting financed in a similar way, with $1 million in TIF money.

Kabat believes he hit the right balance with the spending plan.

“You’re not going to please everybody but I think we have some good plans going forward,” Kabat said. “And, there are facilities that we have to take care of, like senior centers and certain public buildings.”