La Crosse forgives some fees for church, where sidewalks were not shoveled

A north La Crosse church gets a little forgiveness from City Hall, in a snow shoveling dispute. 

The Board of Public Works voted Monday to reduce an invoice sent to the Temple Baptist Church on North Salem Road in La Crosse for having unshoveled walks during the holidays. 

Pastor Daniel Habegger told the board he was out of town for a few days after Christmas, when the snowfall occurred, and the forecast before he left had not called for much snow.

Habegger said he and a second man usually clear the sidewalk outside the church after it snows.

“He automatically comes if we’ve had at least two inches of snow, but we hadn’t had two inches,” Habegger said. “It was about an inch that blew.”

The city sends crews to clear sidewalks if more than an inch of snow has not been shoveled 24 hours after a snowfall. Cost is $2.50 per linear foot, plus a $75 administration fee. There’s also potential citations between $75-$100 but Mayor Mitch Reynolds has told WIZM in the past, those are almost never issued.

Temple Baptist, at the corner of North Salem and Loomis Streets, was sent a bill for $900, which Habegger said was “exorbitant.”

He said portions of the sidewalk were already bare pavement, and $900 is often what the church takes in from offerings in an entire week.

The board voted to eliminate about $150 in fees, and the church will still pay the rest of the cost.