La Crosse County Board chair Tryggestad on taxes, SMRT bus funding, cost to plow snow

11/12/2025 32 min
La Crosse County Board chair Tryggestad on taxes, SMRT bus funding, cost to plow snow

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Episode Synopsis

La Crosse County Board chair Tina Tryggestad in studio, discussing a slew of topics, including the cost to plow snow, having the fifth-lowest tax levy, regionalizing assets, funding the SMRT bus and updates to the Hillview Healthcare Center. We also talked about county board elections across Wisconsin. La Crosse County has 30 seats — always up for election every two years.Tryggestad talks about gathering signatures and what candidates must do to run or — for those already on the board — declare they’re not running. In regards to taxes, we hit on the topic a couple different ways. With the 2026 budget recently passing, La Crosse County holds the fifth-lowest tax levy in the state. We worked that into a conversation about what’s on a tax bill and how the area could lower the tax burden — by regionalizing assets. Tryggestad talked about how Western Technical College is taxed through 11 counties, but we don’t do that for things like the airport or the La Crosse Center — entities owned by the city. In the midst of a snowstorm, we also discussed the cost of plowing snow. County figures determine it costs $3,000-$4,000 per hour for the snowplows to run. The county has 26 of those and 440 miles of roads to cover — or uncover. Other topics included the county board figuring out a way to fund the SMRT bus another year and the Hillview Healthcare Center getting its first residents for the transitional housing units called Park Lane Studios. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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