City admin, taxes and TIFs — it’s all on the spring ballot and UW-L’s Kovari breaks it down

UW-L political science and public administration professor, Dr. John Kovari, joins in-studio to dissect everything from the city administrator’s role in lowering La Crosse taxes to working Oompa Loompas into a conversation about TIFs — which might explain why his TIF book is orange.

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). Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts here, Spotify here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.

Kovari breaks down TIF (Tax Increment Financing) districts, how La Crosse uses them, and why they’re on the spring ballot for both mayor and city council.

Oh, and speaking of TIFs, Kovari literally wrote the book on them — Tax Increment Financing: A Practical Guide for Analyzing TIF Risks, Benefits, and Outcomes (available here). He is yet to set up a Pearl Street Books signing.

Beyond TIFs, we dig into the pros and cons of La Crosse potentially hiring a city administrator, which is also on the ballot. Part of that conversation included whether the position could help lower taxes.

Finally, we discuss regionalizing assets, like the La Crosse Center and the La Crosse Regional Airport and how that, too, could reduce the burden on city taxpayers.

Basically, the whole show toyed with the one big question: How do we lower taxes in La Crosse so people actually want to move here?