La Crosse Mayor Reynolds on re-election, city’s housing situation, 2024 budget

Mayor Mitch Reynolds in the WIZM studio Monday for La Crosse Talk PM discussing voter turnout and re-election, as well as housing, including short-term rentals, and the 2024 budget process.

La Crosse Talk PM airs weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.

Began the show talking a bit reminiscing about the first-term mayor’s election and the low — but typical — voter turnout and what his thoughts are on re-election. That included how college students — or any group — could sway a local election with a larger turnout.

After that, we got into the city’s budget process a bit, rising property taxes and differences between how the city and county budgets are funded. We also talked about if that system needs to be changed, as the city has been discussing cuts to services.

Also discussed housing, as Reynolds has said over and over that a lack of housing is the city’s biggest dilemma. The council is looking at regulating short-term rentals, like Airbnbs, but we talked about how the state limits a local government’s ability to do much.

Lastly, we hit on where the city is at allocating it’s estimated $22 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, as a couple of groups have asked the council for additional money, including the city’s Arts Board.