The Capital Times from Madison, Wisconsin • 1

Me Mevjs THE CnPITHLUmS Friday, Jan. 1 1 1 985 21 Eari asks vertiauil off veterans5 programs By MATT POMMER Capital Timet Staff Writer A major overhaul of the financially troubled veterans trust fund programs and the first appropriation of state tax monies to it in 10 years will be proposed in Gov. Anthony Earls biennial budget Included in the veterans portion of the budget, according to Earl staffer Sherman Stock, are: Combining the second mortgage and economic assistance loan programs, expanding income eligibility, and increasing the interest rate on new loans from the current 3 percent to a range of 5 to 8 percent Putting $1.4 million in general fund tax revenues into the Veterans Trust Fund which hasnt received any GPR since 1974. Creating a geriatric evaluation, research and education unit at the Veterans Home at King, Wis. Limiting Trust Fund part-time study grants and putting limits on medical assistance to the Indigent veterans.

Recommending continuation of the first mortgage program at levels recommended by the state Building Commission. The Veterans Trust Fund had been the target of a recent critical study by State Auditor Dale Cattanach who warned programs would have to be constrained or additional money appropriated. Cattanach said the fund might face a cumulative $8.8 million deficit by the end of the decade unless remedial action were taken. Stock said the veterans package had been worked out with leaders of the state Board of Veterans Affairs. He especially praised the work of Jack Sturm of Manawa, chair man of the board.

Sturm is a Republican businessman who was appointed to the board under the administration of Republican Gov. Lee Dreyfus. Sturm played an active role in the People for Dreyfus, the ex-governors campaign fund. Current state law allows a veteran with less than $18,000 of income to get up to a $3,000 economic assistance loan and up to a $5,000 second mortgage loan for home improvements. Both now carry the original 3 percent interest rate.

Few veterans get both loans. Under the Earl plan, a veteran could get up to a $5,000 economic assistance loan for up to 10 years. Veterans with less than $23,000 of income would be eligible. Current income eligibility limits are $18,000 plus $500 for each dependent in excess of two. The interest rate on loans taken out after the bill became law would be pegged at 2 percent less than the prime bank lending rate.

But the rate couldnt be less than 5 percent or more than 8 percent Existing loans and second mortgages would remain at 3 percent Part-time study grants for veterans would be limited to a maximum of $500 per semester. Veterans with at least a bachelors degree would be excluded. The bill would require the course to be at least five days long. That is an attempt Stock said, to prevent employers from using the fund to have their workers attend seminars. The bill would cap the part-time study program at $350,000, and require the department to prorate grants if demands exceed the funds.

Medical assistance to the indigent veterans and their families would be limited to a total of $250,000. Individual reimbursements would be limited to $5,000. Stock said that even with those limits the payments are the most generous in the nation. Stock said the governor again has rejected the suggestions of some groups that the state build a new 200-bed veterans nursing home in Kenosha County. Those pleas usually point out that 210,000 veterans in Wisconsin are nearing old age.

Creation of the special geriatric unit at King is an effort help all of these veterans, Stock said. The Veterans Trust Fund was created in 1961 by merging the separate trust funds created after World War World War II and the Korean War. The last tax appropriation to the fund was $1,033,000 in 1974. Barry still opposed to proposed county assessment system Jerry Ambelang, Barbara Mulhem and Gene Conrad of The Capital Times contributed to this story. DAVID SANDELLThe Capital Times 93-year-old man dies in home fire County Executive Jonathan Barry says he has not changed his stance against countywide assessment, claiming it would cost the county a great deal more money than the present system.

Barry added that hes not eager to take on still another task when a mandate for countywide relief is in the offing. The State of Wisconsin has mandated that municipalities assess within 10 percent of true market value by 1986. Dane County, he said, is very close to that goaL Sylvan Leabman, administrator of the Division of State and Local Finance of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, says county assessment, rather than local assessment in each of Dane Countys 60 municipalities, would save City of Madison taxpayers more than $1 million in assessment expenses, with significant savings also going to the countys other municipalities. The state would provide 75 percent of the cost of countywide assessment, Leabman said, while ensuring equitable assessments throughout the county- Well, thats fine, responded Cross Plains Deputy Clerk and Treasurer Gerald Brunner. But I feel each entity should be able to govern itself.

Brunner said Cross Plains had one of the finest assessors around and is as fair as anyone can be. Lets at least keep local control on something, Brunner pleaded. We can treat our people out here fairly. Eugene Skaar, Town of Cottage Grove chairman and president of the Dane County Towns Association, said that he figures his town is at 100 percent of assessed valuation but the state supervisor of assessment put the town at 93 percent of assessed valuation. We did our best with professional appraisers," said Skaar.

Then we had the state supervisor of assessments come in and say we still aren't high enough. Skaar said the problem with many rural municipalities is that the state is trying to run assessment figures based on inflated land values that while someone is willing to come in and pay a ridiculous price for farmland, everybody suffers because that is used as a representative sale for the area and assessments tend to be jacked up accordingly but the bubble is going to bust, he said. Everybody is blaming the local assessor, said Skaar, but its not him. Its the state supervisor of assessments, and that supervisor of assessments is going to be here whether weve got county assessment or local assessment We can read the valuations, we know what the true valuations are, noted Skaar. In a countywide system we wont gain anything and theres nobody who says we will only those people who like to run bureaucracies.

The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, a privately supported, non-political organization headquartered in Madison takes no stand on public policy and therefore has taken no side on the county assessment issue. Were a research and educational organization, said Rindert Kiemel research director for the WTA, so we primarily disseminate information resulting from our studies. By simple arithmetic, the closer to the 100 percent market value figure, the less error there is for gross tax inequities, Kiemel said. Municipal officials see the tough new state regulation as a mandate to continue their own reassessments, with it acting as an alternative to county assessment, Kiemel said. They are saying, We can handle our own assessment game.

The issue has created a lot of local antagonism, he added. Town of Madison firefighters work to put out a fire in a $3,000 damage, has not been confirmed. "But right now chair that killed a 93-year-old man Thursday afternoon, were leaning toward the careless use of smoking materi-Clarence H. Dixon, 2101 Cliff Court, apparently died of als, he said. Dixon, a semi-invalid, was left alone by his smoke inhalation after the living room chair he was seated caretaker about 4 p.m.

while the latter went out to do laun-in caught fire at about 4 p.m. Assistant Fire Chief Duane dry, Roeske said. Roeske said the cause of the fire, which did an estimated Thompson thinking twice about bonus By MATT POMMER Capital Time Staff Writer Legislative passage of $500 health insurance bonuses for state employees is uncertain, Assembly Minority Leader Tommy Thompson, R-Elroy, said today. More and more people, including myself, are starting to rebel against the idea, said Thompson, who is considered the unannounced frontrunner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 1988. It just doesnt appear to be the thing for the governor or the state to do, said Thompson in an interview.

Daniel Wisniewski, executive secretary to Gov. Anthony Earl, said the administration thinks the bonus plan, linked to savings acquired through competition among health insurance plans, has a good chance of pas sage. Democratic legislative leaders are fully supportive of the bonus plan, and the governor will strongly push for adoption of the plan early in the session. Democrats control the Assembly by a 52-to-47 margin and the State Senate by a 19-to-14 margin. State employees, represented by the Wisconsin.

State Employees Union, would get their $500 per person bonus by separate check within 30 days after the Legislature adopts and the governor signs enabling legislation, under an agreement signed Thursday by the state and the union. Tentative agreements, identical to the WSEU pact, have been reached with all but one of the other affected (See BONUS, Page 26) Traffic accidents leave one dead, another critical An Ohio man is in critical condition and an Illinois man is dead following two unrelated traffic accidents Thursday. Robert Kutz, 43, Akron, Ohio, remains in critical condition today at Methodist Hospital after his car went out of control Thursday morning and rolled over several times. Kutz was northbound on U.S. 51, near Interstate 90, when he passed another car.

When he returned to the right lane, his car apparently hit a slippery spot, spun out of control and rolled over three times. The accident occurred at about 11:15 a.m. in the Town of Burke. A I i DAVID SANDELLThe Capital Times The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home Skyview, on the West Beltline, has been sold for $1 and will be moved to Beaver Dam. Frank Lloyd Wright house to be moved to Beaver Dam The Dane County coroner was called to the scene when medical technicians were inltally unable to detect a heartbeat in Kutz.

Finally, however, efforts to revive Kutz were successful and he was taken to Methodist Hospital where he remains in critical condition. A caption accompanying a picture in Thursdays Capital Times incorrectly stated that Kutz had died. A separate accident Thursday afternoon on U.S. 51 in the Town of Albion resulted in the death of a 21-year-old Illinois man. Three other people also were Injured in the 12:10 p.m.

accident, one of them critically. Joel Maxwell, of Pekin, DL, died of multiple injuries at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics at about very important part of the history of the area and shouldnt be bulldozed until all hope of restoration is gone. Despite complaints from Opitz that the house was in great disrepair and too expensive to salvage, the board insisted Skyview be preserved. Opitzs offer to dismantle the house and store it until a buyer came forward also got a thumbs down. Last fall the American Players Theatre flirted with the possibility of moving Skyview to its Spring Green property.

However, that deal fell through when the town board de- house, relocate it and rebuild Sky-view as soon as a suitable site is found. Fecht, who intends to use Sky-view ad a personal residence, is thrilled with the purchase, Opitz said. He is very well studied on Frank Lloyd Wright and was thrilled and surprised to find out the house was for sale, Opitz said. The house, which sits on 3 acres, was built for the late Dr. Arnold Jackson and his wife, Lora.

Although the house comes fairly cheap, it will cost Fecht $14,000 to $25,000 to move it, an Opitz spokes- manded that the financially troubled APT come up with a co-signer. Meanwhile Madsen, frustrated by the delay, shifted its condo plans to the northern 3 acres of the Beltline site and proceeded with construction. (The Wright house sits on the southern end.) Opitz said he has no immediate plans for development on the 3 acres Skyview occupies. But we want to clear the site so that If a project comes along we can do it, he said. I man said.

According to the purchase terms, Fecht will have to move the house by March 15. Opitz, who owns seven acres of prime commercial land at 2929 West Beltline Highway, has been trying to unload Skyview since September so Madsen could construct office condominiums there. A proposal to demolish the house was shot down by the town board after drawing strong protest from local preservationists. Members of the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation insisted the house is a A 4 By PATSY McGUIRE Capital Time Correspondent TOWN OF MADISON An original Frank Lloyd Wright house that sparked a tug-of-war between the town board and the Madsen Corp. has been sold for $1 and will be moved from the West Beltline Highway to Beaver Dam, according to Konrad Opitz, the houses owner.

Opitz said architectural student Christopher Fecht, 33, and his grandfather, Paul Drennan, agreed Thursday to dissemble the 28-year-old.