Voters in April will see a statewide question whether the office of Treasurer be removed as a Constitutional entity and eliminate the office. There have been many attempts to end the office, billed by politicians as an unneeded office. Many of the duties have been farmed out to other agencies.
The Treasurer is one of the Constitutional officers in charge of oversight of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. That is a constitutional entity designed to govern state owned lands, and whatever proceeds are gathered will fund local school libraries, but also economic development in Wisconsin. This is where a local economic developer comes in. Roger Luce is Executive Director of Oneida County Economic Development.
He spoke with Ken Krall about how he thinks the public should retain the Treasurer as one of the last gatekeepers of over a billion dollars before politicians can get their hands on it...
Luce says the recent expansion at Expera here in Rhinelander and a new facility in Sugar Camp are two examples of the fund being used here for jobs and infrastructure. There are dozens of others in the north. The money from the BCPL fund to school libraries and the economy come only from the interest on the money the fund has gathered since Wisconsin became a state in 1848.
