April 22, 2026
By TIM HUNDT
VERNON COUNTY, Wis. – The Vernon County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the sale of $4.9 million dollars in general obligation promissory notes during its April 21 meeting to fund a variety of capital improvement projects. The unanimous vote finalizes a borrowing strategy that county leadership has debated for months as a way to circumvent strict state levy limits and afford necessary infrastructure repairs.
Municipal Advisor Peter Meidal from Ehlers Financial Advisors presented the final results of the competitive bond sale to the board. Meidal reported that the county received highly favorable interest rates due to a strong credit rating and high demand from buyers.
“We had a rating call with Standard and Poors and they affirmed the double A minus credit rating for the county,” said Meidal. “That credit rating certainly helped us yesterday when we took bids for the sale we got seven bids.”
Meidal explained that receiving seven bids indicates a very competitive sale and strong interest in the county credit. He noted the winning bid came from Stifel Nicolaus and Company with a true interest cost of 3.62 percent.
“We were assuming rates of about 4.04 percent so we did much better than what our initial estimates were,” said Meidal. “We sold notes about a year ago and that deal or issue came in at about 4.03 for the interest rate so again better than about a year ago.”
Meidal told the board that assuming the county does not refund or pay off the notes early the total cost including principal and interest over the 20 year term will be roughly $6.5 million dollars.
Supervisor David Strudthoff asked for clarification on how the county could potentially eliminate some of those future interest payments by paying the principal early.
“In 2035 then we could theoretically then pay the $235,000 we could pay if we had the money,” said Strudthoff. “We could eliminate $85,300 is that correct how that works.”
Meidal confirmed that after eight years the notes are eligible to be refunded or paid down early.
“If you had some cash you wanted to target a principal maturity that would lower the principal outstanding,” said Meidal. “That would lower the interest payment because that interest payment then instead of $85,300 would go down.”
Meidal explained that the premium generated from the highly competitive bids allowed the county to downsize the actual issue amount while still fully funding all the intended projects.
“The premium generated we could use yesterday for the underwriters discount so essentially we could downsize the bonds by that amount,” said Meidal. “The project costs are all the same from what we presented in March what we financed yesterday.”
Following the presentation the board approved the sale on a 19 to 0 vote.
The smooth final approval stood in contrast to the intense debate the board held during its March 19 meeting when the initial borrowing resolution was first introduced. During that previous meeting Ehlers representative Sean Lentz explained the county would face annual payments of roughly $500,000 dollars to service the new debt. The borrowed funds will be used for $3 million dollars in highway road projects as well as highway equipment sheriff squad cars an emergency management storage building and a van for Vernon Manor.
During that March meeting Supervisor Lonnie Muller strongly opposed the borrowing strategy and warned against putting the county into long term debt for routine operational needs like vehicles and road repairs.
“Twenty years from now we are going to be right back in the same situation,” said Muller. “Taxpayers have lost and I totally disapprove of borrowing money to operate on.”
However several supervisors pushed back and argued that the county has no other options. Goede defended the borrowing as the most fiscally responsible way to handle failing infrastructure before it becomes catastrophic.
“My opinion is along with probably every member of this board is we do not want to borrow money and when we do have to borrow money we have to borrow the smart money,” said Goede. “The smart money is putting $3 million dollars into roads now at four and a half percent interest instead of waiting for 10 years instead of spending $500,000 to rehab a mile of road to stick a million dollars into a complete reconstruction.”
Supervisor Dave Eggen also defended the borrowing during the March meeting by placing the blame squarely on state lawmakers who restricted local funding tools.
“Twenty years ago I was in Madison lobbying for levy limits because of runaway property taxes,” said Eggen. “And then the state reneged on school aid highway aid and they forced everybody having to have referendums or to borrow and every municipality gets put in a corner.”
With the final bond sale now approved the county will receive the funds in early May allowing the highway department and other agencies to begin executing their 2026 capital projects.
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