“Jesus could come today,” the sign announced upon a turn south from the just concluded Worden town meeting on August 10. Below the roadside announcement was a verse reference: “See Revelation 22:21.” Ignoring the sign and continuing south to turn left on another road made up of material suggesting a mush consistency when wet, brought up the second clue: “Dead End,” thus prompting a turn back and over the hill. There stationed reverse of the first sign’s announcement was a third signal: “God will judge the world,” also with a Bible verse reference , this one to Acts.

Prior to staff encountering the three signs, the Worden Town Board met at the corner of Eddy Road and Koser Avenue for the regular monthly meeting, with all board members in attendance. With an indoor mask ratio registering at 20% but with meeting attendees embracing the social distancing protocols, the township convened to talk budgeting and roads. The annual meeting’s 2019 finance report for Worden was available in packet form with a bright yellow cover page, highlights to come. First though, a public commenter had some free input to the Worden town board, regarding a road on the east side.

“I was going to mention when you guys decide to do Eddy Road, Horst Stables first mile—I think you guys should consider instead of spending $120,000 a mile or whatever it is, I don’t know for sure, a variety of graveling and shouldering. Why don’t you guys try lean wedging it where it’s so rutted out, and then seal chipping it once?” he asked the board members. “Because I think it’s busted up underneath—that road’s busted up pretty bad where if water did get in between, it would drain down in.” Going on to estimate the age of the road at 30 years, the resident said it was a good road to experiment with cost savings on. Chairman Earl Mathison had his own information to provide.

“That’s the first one they did on that side of the township, I think,” Mathison said. “We did put a chip seal on that what, about six, seven years ago?” Estimates differed on the chip seal’s age, before the commenter chipped back in.

“But anyway, I was thinking instead of spending that much money on a road, that would be a good road to try lean wedging and putting a chip seal on because off the top of my head, if you do that and get fifteen years out of it, you don’t have to do any shouldering. If you would get 15 years out of it, I don’t think it would cost quite half to do that, to lean wedge and chip seal, I think it would be half the cost of putting three inches on there.” A town supervisor spoke next.

“But the representatives tell us that once it’s alligator cracked like that, there’s nothing they can do,” they shared. “I don’t know if they’re trying to sell us something, or—” “I think so,” the commenter said. “Because some spots you’re going to get four inches of asphalt it’s so grooved out. “Sometimes I think you can’t listen to those people,” they said of road salesmen, though it was noted that companies involved in road construction would be happy to give the town a quote for the suggested action, at any rate.

No town road work would be possible this season, but experimenting with different ways to save road money in the township, ever at a premium. More counties were doing patch work and even the state was, as Supervisor Dean Samuelson made note of.

“Even the state’s doing it on Highway 29,” he said of cutting out small road sections and replacing in piecework rather than doing whole stretches of highway. Talk was also made of temporary road weight limits on the asphalt section of Broek Road, though without action at the August meeting.

“If we put a load limit on it, then people are going to say, ‘well why did you blacktop it’” Supervisor Ed Kosik shared, adding of the road, “It’s made to use.” Another public meeting attendee noted that counties further to the north with sand plants had weight limit signs “all over” and that the companies even had to rebuild whole roads, before largely disappearing. The plants. Nonetheless, the damage had been done, and was accounted for.

“So there must something that they can do,” the first public commenter said. Steel wheels are something causing heavy wear and tear on township roads were also brought up as a more local road maintenance issue.

“I asked him and he said, ‘it’s agriculture, you can’t touch it,’” the Chairman reported of county level road discussions. Without the politicians on board, there was just nothing that could be done. Before long, it was into other town business—but what might the annual meeting numbers reveal?

In the first place, the annual meeting fiscal report for 2019 shows that property tax settlement totaled $34,126.65 for the previous year, while the January 2019 tax collection figure rang in at $343,652.74. With an additional $199,918.99 in December Tax collection, other large revenue sources for Worden in 2019 included “Revenue Sharing” of $49,652.26 and “Highway Aid” worth 129,698.81. “Managed Forest Land” netted the township $317 flat in total income, while the collection of dog fees (“dog collect”) brought in $685.00, for a total income with other miscellaneous revenue sources of $798,864.66.

As to tax levies, the two biggest fee collections went to county taxes ($256,372.20) and the school tax ($254,860.34), with the “VTAE Tax” coming in at 26,689.67, for a total tax levy burden of $539,965.90 with miscellaneous expenses. As to expenses specific to Worden from the levied funds, the fiscal report shows $10,408.48 in total wages ostensibly split between the chairman and two supervisors, with another $8,620.87 accruing to the town clerk and $5,956.52 to the Worden treasurer in wage payments. The total public safety budget including fire dues came in at $17,938.67, while local elections were calculated to have cost a total $917.34. Last but not least, a “Building Manager” line item was allotted $313.99 in fees.

For other local expense figures, the Worden “Bridge and Machine Fund” comes in at $15,000, while state withholding tax in 2019 was set at $2,494.90. Blue granite cost the township of Worden $32,971.88 in 2019, while “pulverizing blacktop” was registered at $10,034. Dust control cost $11,592.92, for a net loss of $7,681.37 after adjusting for the cost share assessed from township residents requesting this. A seeming increase of highway aid from $129,698.81 in 2019 to $142,674.12 in 2020 was offset by a gutting of the culvert and bridge aid for 2020, set at $14,156.40 in 2019 but at $0 the following year. Slight increases in the tax levy and fire insurance dues made the 2020 budget $1,124.01 richer than the year before, however, with the net income for Worden in 2019 registering at $4,101.51, bringing us back to a roads observation made at the August 10 meeting.

“I see where all our highway money goes,” said one attendee at the meeting postadjournment. A trip down south by the Dells had revealed to them road construction seemingly without end, and even the town roads were all blacktopped! Don’t take our word for it, but if true it sounds like there could be a reckoning to come, with fairness and justice as the instigating factors. The state doesn’t stop at the Wisconsin Dells Parallel— geographically speaking.