Welcome to this week's legislative update. I'm Jim Baumgurt. Your host and with me is Nanette Wille-Busch, who is the chair and she's from Elkhart Lake. I am. And live on a farm. I do, I do, yes. That's not who we have here. We have the county treasurer, Laura Henning-Lorens, and we're going to be talking about some of the outstanding things that have been going on in that treasurer's office that has saved county residents hundreds of thousands of dollars over a period of time. Oh yes, real money. And a treasurer is a rather frugal person, so they like saving money. So welcome to the program. Thanks for having me, both of you. Well, we had done a program a week earlier and now we have another one we want to talk about. What do we want to talk about? Well, first we want to ask, Laura, thank you for being here, first of all. Tell us about who you are, how you got to be a treasurer, and what you like most about it. Okay. Well, my husband and I live here in Sheboygan County, of course. We're lifelong residents of Sheboygan County. We love it here. I graduated with my bachelor's degree from Lakeland University, and I majored in accounting and business administration, and I minored in economics. From there, it pretty much, the story goes, I had worked for Sheboygan County in an accounting position, and while I was going to school, had loved working with numbers. So after I graduated and after my predecessor, Sandy Fisher, had announced her retirement, I thought, well, I'd like to go back to the county because I had been working in the public sector at the time and wanted to work with a great team of people in that office. So I was elected in November of 2002 and took my first of office in January of 03. 14 years, and you still love it. I still love it. And one of the few jobs where you have to swear on the Bible that you're going to uphold the county and state constitution and the county rules, and most people don't have to do that. Yes. So you're in charge of our money. That's part of our duties. Yes, we are the fiduciary of the county, and one of our responsibilities is to safeguard the people's money. So to that end, we, property taxpayers, would like to know that it's being well spent and that it's being spent responsibly, efficiently, and you are, as a county employee and your staff, you are using money to use your office. So tell us some of the innovative things you've done to save us money and to make your office more efficient. If I could just, before Laura starts, sometimes to save money, you have to spend money for updating computers so that they can do what it wants rather than to hang on to something so it's still old and making it harder for work groups to get their job done. So spending money sometimes saves money. Right. So beginning in January of 2009, I'll start that far back. Okay. The real property listing was consolidated into our office. Can you tell me what you mean by real property listing? Real property listing, sure. Real property listing, after somebody files their deed and their register deed's office, that information flows to our office, and that information is utilized to update the assessment and tax rolls. Basically, we need to make sure that when we send out tax bills, the bottom line is it has to go to the bite owner, the right legal description, the right acreage, the right school districts, et cetera. It is tricky, too. And it's a very technical and complex work that gets done. And I didn't mean to interrupt you. That's okay. So how have you been innovating? Well, the property listing came into our office at that time. We also took on the assessment for the entire county except for the city of Sheboygan. So that was a big change in our office, but the bottom line savings was a minimum of $70,000 per year. That you saved the taxpayer? That we started saving taxpayer money, yes. You worked hard to save more. Per year, yes. By April of 2010, it was apparent that combining city services with the county and us taking on the city of Sheboygan property listing made sense. So a little over a year later, we were consolidated with that piece, and that came into our office. And much has happened. We continue every year through the budgeting process to make sure that we have up-to-date computer equipment so that we don't fall behind as far as that goes. And it also could be a security issue if we fell too far behind. You also save staff if you get equipment that is more efficient instead of adding staff because you've got more duties. You can either stabilize your staff or lower it a little bit. Right, right. And we've done a lot of those things through the consolidations that we've done. We further went on to consolidate. Many people don't know this, but our tax bills used to be calculated in our IT department and printed there. And IT for those that don't know what IT stands for? Information technology, yes, yes. And it just so happened that they were working on consolidations and it made sense for that to fall into our office. So in the very end, our municipalities that we communicate to were getting communications from one office versus what used to be at least three or four offices. So it also consolidated communications. But most recently, our very most exciting and most recent innovation was going live with our new land record enterprise software. That was a huge, huge savings to taxpayers in that we have to pay annual maintenance for these softwares. The annual maintenance for the computer software that we use every single day. And it just so happens that that is 50% lower than what we're currently paying to the company that we had been using. So a big difference in the cost there. So we're really happy to report that. I'm sure the county gave you a big bonus for that. No, no, no, no. When that had been nice, I'd have to say no. You don't get what you say. No, it is. And we also went live with a new web portal. You wouldn't imagine how important that is to folks. Yeah, when I realized I could pay my taxes online without having to drive to Sheboygan, that's huge. Yes, yes. Talking about that, that is one of the innovative things that we've done is we've utilized a third-party vendor to do our online payments. And it grows every year. You'd be amazed how many people pay online. One of the things that is important in this whole process is that you're elected by the people and independent of what the county administrator or the county board decides while they can influence it. You are independent enough so that you and all the other treasurers in the state can come up with innovative ideas that will save tax-worth money. You're not on the calling and whim, although we all are a little bit, to some boss. You are at disposal of the people of your county and responsible to them. And that check and balance is a wonderful thing that needs to really be protected so that we can continue the efforts that you and the other treasurers have been doing throughout Wisconsin. Yes, I think that's very well said, Jim. I couldn't have said it better myself. I think that if that were ever to change, I think that would just dramatically lessen the voice of the people in their government, because it's not our government, it's their government. So, I'm sorry, you're doing innovative things. Yes, well, we've already covered just about everything on our list here in terms of innovation. I want to make sure that we fit this in. If people have a question, how do they contact you? Can they call you? Can they email you? Can they just reach you directly? We are very approachable, so we are located in the county administration building on Fifth and New York Avenue. We have an email address of www.sheboykincounty.com as our website. You can also email us at countytreasurer at sheboykincounty.com. Our telephone number quickly is<PHONE_NUMBER>. And your busiest time of the year is when? I mean, it's busy all the time. Right before tax time or when you're getting tax money? It just gets very busy starting in November at the end of October, the beginning of November, because we start to build the tax bills. One other thing that's real important in our office is the innovation we've done with the lottery and gaming credit, because that's very important. We want to make sure, and it is our job to make sure that the most people that are eligible for that credit on their tax bill receive it. Whether they buy a lottery ticket or not. Whether they buy a lottery ticket or not, correct.  I don't buy much, but when it gets up to something worthwhile like $150 million, I'll buy a couple of dollars. Oh, good. Keep doing that. I encourage you to do that. It comes back with property tax relief. It does. And just to be clear, you're not the office that sets our property tax bill at the right. That's the municipality. So if people think they're paying too much in taxes, they don't complain to you. They complain to their local town chairperson. And with two minutes left, which you wanted an extra minute here? Yeah. Each municipality sets their own levy, and then we receive that and we make the tax bills in December. And you had something that you wanted to have a spare minute before I end the story? Just that you want people to know. Just that our office is open to them. We're very available to them. And if they ever do need to, if they have a problem with their property taxes, we run into people that, you know, life happens to them. And we want to work with all of our taxpayers. For closures, you try to work with them to make sure that they don't have to sell. And that's an effort that I think the county does a good job at trying to prevent foreclosures rather than to see how many they can do. But out of time, we are running treasure of Sheboygan County. I want to thank you for joining Nanette and I and sharing with the public some of the wonderful things that you're doing and a very complicated subject. Until next week, this has been Legislative Update. Thank you.


Welcome to Toffy TV, this is a match preview Manchester United versus Everton Sunday 2 o'clock at Old Trafford. Andy, do you want to meet for the preview looking forward to this one? Yes, because I think we can get a positive result.  So, you're going to the next game with a bit of confidence, which is what we want. So, you know, what we've always wanted really, whatever, you know. Yeah, and I think Manchester United, although they've had some improved results, they have improved results because they play the same type of team, I think we can give them something that will be tough to break down.  City leave themselves exposed to that, and if you can exploit it, that's how you can beat them. But United at all, on the counterattack, they were fantastic. So quick, yeah. Quick, then changed, Lingard was brilliant to be fair, Martial, Rashford. Rashford, so they're a real, they've got in those front areas, they're a real threat, aren't they? Yn wam besachau was exceptional at the weekend, and Harry McGuire played the area well. So, you know, a good team performance, but you write it. You know, they've struggled at home this season. United haven't been as fluid as they have been in recent years, and that's been generally because teams have sat deep against them. In terms of the expectation of Old Rashford, obviously, for a long time, it's a fortress where teams came and, you know, would dispatch quite quickly. Under Olegon and Salshire, that level of expectations probably still lay from the home fans, even though obviously it's a while ago now. So they expect a performance, and when you're trying to break teams down, you probably haven't got the right squad to play that style. You're going to struggle, and I think they sued playing to play on the counter, really, getting that, you know, they're meant for quickly creating disadvantages in terms of numbers. And I don't think I haven't allowed them to do that. Obviously, we could be, I've got ways of scoring because they are a good side, but I think they haven't got a fair chance of creating a lot of problems. So I'm especially with the physicality. I don't want to care about losing.   It was, you know... Nice throwback, wasn't it? Duncan Ferguson, it was effort, hard work, 4-4-2, which was a big novelty. Players responded, crowd responded, and we proved what a good side we can be. We've got good players, we've got very good players when they actually try. Yeah, yeah. That makes a big difference. That's right. And there hasn't been anywhere near enough of that this season if there had to have been to be far higher in the table. There's been no base-level performance to up and down. There's been no intensity, like there was at the weekend. Just as you've always said, you've said it, Peds said it, and I've said it on other occasions. Everton fans expect the base-level performance of commitment and hard work, and too often this season we've just took our foot off the gas too quickly and our team's basically dictated the game to us. And sadly, whether it was scrappy or not at times, we just never give Chelsea a way to breathe, and Frank Lampard just couldn't cope with his side.  We were bounced quite convincingly. We were shocking on a zamffield defensively. We were open from a strike ball. We were too high up the pitch against a team we played so quick on the break. And this is all, we've got to take a lot of kind of warns and, well, not even warnings, evidence from the zamffield to Old Trafford and not give the... Cos if we do the same at Old Trafford, United will do what Liverpool did, they'll just be in. Rashford's brilliant, they'll be in behind us. So we have got to... It's going to be interesting, especially if Duncan Fergus isn't charged for this one as well, which as the week goes on, it's looking increasingly lightly. Yes, that could change at any time, of course it could. But he's got to be planning, obviously, to play a bit of a different way and be a little bit more reserved as in the other way. We will find ourselves in some... I don't think we'll go 4-4-2 if we play a way. I think we'll probably go 4-5-1 more likely with maybe Tom Davies to give him a bit more solidity in the field. But I think, yeah, away from home, you've got to play a bit, you've packed that in the field because you need to get that superiority there and you don't want to commit too many men forward. I think sometimes away from home 4-4-2 leaves you a little light in the field. You need that option, I think. But I think Duncan Feggson's huge... That's the key word, Duncan Feggson. I think he's got enough humility to say we're going to be a bit basic, we're going to keep it tight. Whereas I think a 4-3-4 mark, he didn't have that even around the field, he's playing a higher line. You've got to be more switched on, you're going to be smarter than that. So I think Feggson will have a plan for that and hopefully he does get something because I think it's too late in the week now to employ a manager and be able to possibly change things. Well, I suppose he'll have... What happens? He'll have big input only because he's had the team and he's been a train and you know, the last few days. Obviously we haven't heard anything regarding Luca Dean yet who went off of the ground and he showed fingers crossed. Me and that was close to playing at the weekend so you'd expect him to refit. Obviously if Dean doesn't make it, Leighton Baines came on and he'll start because you know, and that might dictate the way we, as high as we go because I think Baines can still do a defensive job. Still a good passable. No, no. And we might have to be kind of a bit more reserved. But he could still play. He might make a change with me in a coming back in and I don't know, he might leave the defensive it was. But he could still play the roughly the same starting line up but just alter it and I hope he could go more central and be operating in the 10. The charlotson could go out of the left and leave Thomas the main just like it with Walcott. It'll be interesting whether he leaves the same 11 and just tinkers with the form. That's obviously injuries permitted. But you're right, we do have to be a bit more reserved. But with the players we have on the pitch, we can air teams and we've been very good on the counter attack. That's one thing we've been this season. We just haven't been clinically enough on Saturday against Chelsea. We were clinical but we have more shots on target than we've had in most games I think in Dominic Alvalun alone. That's six shots. You look back at last season, you know, the best of Marco, I guess we'll call it. We won those games by playing not the same as Saturday because we were obviously a bit different than the Marco but that same direct and that same piece of play. Counter attack. You know, less than 50% possession in most games like Saturday when we had 30. So, I don't know, maybe this that's just something that works for Everton because we have got those players on it. We probably have got a couple of players who can break teams down. We haven't got a lot of players who can break teams down. So, you've got to have a style that fits the squad and I think sometimes Marco unfortunately lost his way as far as but I think in a game against Manchester State where expectants come on to us, I think we can have some joy in behind and I don't want to say that he's a very good defender, don't be wrong, but if you put him under pressure on the ball he does make mistakes. Brandon Williams at left back again, you can do the same to him. So, there is little air, he's come pin point. Victoria being fifth for them is probably going to be quite big because he's the bit of a linchpin. I know people don't love Fred. I think people for 54 million thought they were going to get like a world all star. But he's a good player, he does a job for them. He's been very good in the last five, six games. So, there is we can sort of try and pin points as pressure points and I think that we have to set the team up if it is done. You'll look at that. I mean, we have to accept that this is a very difficult away game even if we were settled with the settled manager. It's still a very difficult away game. It's not one, without being disrespectful to Manchester United. It's not one that terrifies me the way it used to. Going to Old Trafford for years was just like probably going to Amfield. It was like... Then David Moyes rocked up there. Well, I mean, United have won 36 of the 54 Premier League games against Everton which is a shocking record to have against anyone. We've only won nine times against them in the Premier League. That's pretty well, pretty good. They were brilliant, but they haven't been brilliant for years, have they? We've only won one of the last 26 away games against them and that was in 2013. Well, they're not really great. And we had a couple of decent performances after that. I remember the year later with Brian Oviado with another great shot and the Hayah made an incredible save. Do you know Bains, Mr Penn? Bains, Mr Penn, we've lost narrowly two times to a couple of seasons. Games could have got... Some was undercumin and then they equalised in the 95th minute of the penalty. We should have won that by more. Three breakaways at one. They'll be should have killed. So, you know, it's slightly improved in recent times but it's still not a very good record. So, you know, history is against us. But records are there to be broken and these, United will get better. So this will represent an opportunity for Everton. I think the points will be a good result because it's momentum, isn't it? And me and Peth have spoke on other videos about this earlier this week and we have, I know we have with you as well. Whereas picking points up, look at Wolves. Peth keep banging on. Wolves are one of the same amount of games and they're in the top six but they've drawn nine games and only lost two.  And it's those kind of defeats that you look at and go, well, if they'd have been drawn. You know, you'd be well up. So, you know, Sunday for me is about competing. We've got to compete properly. If we could get it drawn, it'd be good, like I said. You know, it's difficult obviously. I mean, we haven't beaten United but Martiners was here in the first season. It was a good year. It was a good year and that was the year we beat them there. They're looking to win three consecutive games for the first time since January. They've won their last two. We're looking to win a couple of consecutive games in the first time since April. So, there's a few things riding on it. You know, one good thing for Everton is Guilfee Sigarton has scored four times in the last five games at Old Trafford. No-one's scored more than Steven Gerrard for a visiting team in the Premier League at Old Trafford. So, you know, some of the records are there to be broken but they're not... You know, United have improved. There's no question about it. There's a bit of unrest at Old Trafford. You know, people were talking about him potentially losing his job two or three weeks ago but United are the noise coming out of Old Trafford. And I've seen Andy making it. It's said something about this last week is that the Solciars there fit a long term in their opinion. I think they keep Solciars. I think you're putting a sort of foundation in for the future. This is the problem with the Premier League clubs and will include Everton. And that is, I think, because especially Everton because we're so starved to success, is that we just want to rush to that success and I think if you put the foundations in, I know Everton puts too many foundations in there and never worked out. But that's, I think, by playing these young players, by getting these young players up to speed, I think they're laying them and I don't know what they expect. They're not going to be in the Champions League. They haven't got a squad for the Champions League. So they need to, by having Solciar for that year, not having to sort of rush the whole rebuild and you also can have a team of young players who are getting games, who can be ready to play when the next manager comes in, where there is next year, two years down the line. It's like Chelsea is doing this year, they've had a free hit and obviously they've got lucky with the transfer of Bambin over to them. But they've been able to establish a foundation that's probably going to put them in a good stead and it's not the worst thing I suppose. I think everyone just wants to rush back to success which is understandable, but it takes time. I think United have played five teenagers this season which is the most they've played for a while. It's not going through. It is about us as football fan. They're going to be more impatient than us because they were amazing for 20 years. We're getting impatient because we haven't been amazing for 20 years so we're frustrated where they're impatient. But it's realistic to build anything where it does take a bit of time. Especially with FFP because you can't they don't really have the constraints on FFP because they have the best question. But with FFP being involved, you can't do a city anymore. So it does take a couple of seasons to build a squad and I think it's very difficult but I think that Man United's going to be better saved by having a year on the Solshire. Maybe we'll have a better season just keeping things tight and plan for next year when maybe we have a different manager. If we have the interim manager of course that's a bit of a question. I think this is a game where we shouldn't fear them. They're a good side, they'll be wrong but they haven't got more than enough if we turn up to match them on the day. A draw would be a nice result but I'm going to be even better obviously. There you go. That's it isn't it? It's a tough game but one that we should embrace the challenge. Go and give everything. If everything can give everything I'm confident for that because after this game we've got three big home games less than in the cup and we've got Arsenal and Burnley. Opportunity to pick some points up. This will be a tough one but one that we could get something out of and confidence should be high after what we did last year. Man United are up to fifth now on the league but Chelsea are fourth and we've just paced the Chelsea show. Who knows what will happen. Give the video a thumbs up. Join us on Patreon for more videos. There's a link in the description if you're buying from Evan and that. Click on that and if you want I haven't got one on but if you want some of our Christmas range or new TCA the link is also there. Thanks for watching. See you later.