November 2020 election findings in Rock County (RCF Watchdog team members assisted with the research)
by Rock County First | Dec 18, 2022 | County, Watchdog Research
Explore our 2020 election findings in Rock County, Wisconsin through the reports available...- Financial FreedomMarch 15, 2024Few freedoms more important than the financial freedom of you and your family. That is, having enough income or savings to cover your expenses, giving you the freedom to live life on your own terms. With today’s food, rent and energy cost up over 20%, it is becoming harder every day. To make matters worse, did you know, Rock County’s property taxes, as a percentage of personal income, are higher than 95% of all counties in the US? As a matter of fact, our property taxes are higher than Dane County’s, as a percentage of property value. We all can do something to change this, including voting in the Spring 2024 Election...
- Do You Know What You Are Getting?March 15, 2024Surprise Grab Bags $5. That was a sign on a souvenir shop display in a north Wisconsin town we visited yearly when I was young. Someone else decided the price. Someone else decided what the result of opening the bag was. But the sheer belief that something good was inside was enough for that store to sell those bags for years. Kind of like Wisconsin’s education funding system. Public education is funded by you, not the state. The state has no money of its own and only generates money from your taxes. One could reasonably think that a state sanctioned, public education system would then be fully funded by taxes collected by the state. But that isn’t the case. Local districts shoulder anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of their operational costs. The state has pledged to provide 75 percent, but that rarely happens....
- Are You Getting Your Money’s Worth?February 11, 2024As Americans, we value our freedoms. Events in recent history often cause us to fear that those freedoms granted to us in the Constitution could be limited by the wealthy and powerful forces in our government. But the national policy discussions are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to freedom....
- Challenging the MythDecember 8, 2023There is a great myth circulating in our communities and all across the country: If we just make people’s lives easier, they will become great American successes. Upon this falsehood, money is constantly redistributed from those who have, to those who have not. True, those that have money and possessions may have been fortunate to have been born into wealth. Just as true, those who have little may have been born into poverty. However, the circumstance is rare where a person of lesser means succeeds without a value system, regardless of how much money we throw at them or how much less discipline we enforce on them....
- An Unsustainable PathDecember 3, 2023Dumbfounded. That is about the only word that I can use to describe my feelings about the recent arbitrary tax decisions of the government at every level. I find it difficult to believe, given the recent budgets presented and passed, that any elected official considers tax money, OUR money. Elected officials of every level seem to have lost sight that they are taking what we work so hard to earn and redistributing it to projects that are increasingly limited in scope and appeal to the general electorate....