Finance Department To

Marathon County Financial Plan and Information Summary 2000 ANNUAL BUDGET The Naming of Marathon County The Battlefield of Marathon - The ancient Greeks called their sacred herb “Marathon”. It is the giant fennel plant, and it gave its name to the fertile, three-by-five mile plain that fronts on the Aegean Sea about 20 miles northeast of ancient Athens. The Aegean separates Greece and present-day Turkey. In 490 B.C., Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Palestine were all called Persia, and were ruled by a powerful ruler who styled himself the “King of Kings”: Darius the Great. At that time Greece was at the height of its classical period, known through the world as the center of great art, science and learning. Athens was its intellectual capital. Darius coveted Greece. First conquering many of the Greek colonies adjacent to his own country, he directed his attention to the Greek mainland. He politely invited the Greeks, city by city, to submit to his rule. He offered privileges for the loss of their freedom. But there would be tribute. Many other cities and whole nations had accepted his offer rather than face his armies. Those that refused him had been crushed. The Athenians refused. Angrily, Darius declared war. Estimates vary on the size of the army that his Phoenician galleys disembarked on the shore of the Marathon plain, but at least 25,000 infantry, archers, and cavalry arranged themselves for battle with the defending Greeks. A hastily-gathered force of Athenian heavy infantry faced the Persians, along with a volunteer force from the nearby town of Platea, numbering in all about 10,000 troops. Spies for the Greeks brought their commanders the welcome news that the Persian cavalry was unaccountably absent. This was the only break the outnumbered Greeks could hope for. They opted to attack immediately. The Greek generals arranged their army in a line, thin in the center and thickened at the ends. Shouting their war-cry, the line charged the mile-distant enemy at a full run. The clash of the armies could be heard for miles. The Persians yielded at the impact, then stiffened. Their superior numbers asserted themselves, and the Greek line bent in the middle. It yielded, giving way, seemingly on the verge of breaking. But on the flanks, the thicker lines held, slowly pivoting to face each other. They closed. The superior Persian force found itself trapped in a gigantic pincer. The Persian lines panicked and fled, the victorious Greeks cutting them down as they ran. The Persian fleet hastily put into shore to rescue their soldiers, but 6,400 of them, a quarter of their total force, never made it to the boats. The Greeks lost only 192 men. They dispatched their swiftest runner to Athens with the good news, starting the tradition of the 22-mile “Marathon Run”. Demoralized, the Persians permanently retreated. Darius died four years later, and his successor Xerxes attempted to avenge Darius on the Greeks only to suffer another humiliating defeat, this time at the hands of the Athenian navy. The cultural leadership of Greece in Europe was to continue for centuries more as a result of the victory at Marathon. The battlefield became a symbol to all educated men as the place where free men died to preserve Greek culture and the intellectual course of the western world. The war at Marathon changed the course of western history. In 1850, State Representative Walter McIndoe was struck by the flatness and fertility of central Wisconsin, and proposed that a portion of Portage County be separated and honored with the name of that ancient and distant battleground. His suggestion was adopted by the state legislature, giving the citizens of Marathon County a share in that 2,490 year-old victory fought by free men struggling for their independence. Contributed by Don Bronk, retired Marathon County employee TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Pages SECTION A Administrator's Budget Message ................................................ 1 - 17 Budget and Financial Policies and Highlights ...................................... 18 - 24 1999 Budget and Property Tax Levy Resolution .................................... 24 - 26 Revenue Budget Summary by Fund ............................................. 28 Revenue Budget - Category by Fund ............................................ 29 Revenue Budget Summary by Fund and Department ............................... 30 - 31 Expense Budget Summary by Fund ............................................. 32 Expense Budget - Activity by Fund .............................................. 33 Expense Budget Summary by Fund and Department ................................ 34 - 35 Revenue Budget History by Category ............................................ 36 Revenue Budget by Category Chart ............................................. 37 Revenue Budget by Category in Class ........................................... 38 - 39 Expense Budget History by Activity .............................................. 40 Expense Budget by Activity Chart ............................................... 41 Expense Budget by Agency within Activity ........................................ 42 - 43 Table of Equalized Value and Tax Rates - Last Fifteen Fiscal Years .................... 44 Equalized Value and Tax Rate Chart ............................................ 45 Tax Levy and Rate Chart ..................................................... 46 Equalized Value Chart ....................................................... 47 Tax Levy Chart ............................................................. 48 Tax Rate Chart ............................................................. 49 Municipalities Tax Rate and Levy Comparison ..................................... 50 - 51 Five Year Departmental Budget Comparison ...................................... 52 - 60 Five Year Support for Other Agencies Budget Comparisons .......................... 61 - 63 GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTION B General Government Expense Chart ............................................ 1 County Board of Supervisors .................................................. 2 - 5 Clerk of Circuit Courts ........................................................ 6 - 9 i Pages Coroner ................................................................... 10 - 12 County Administrator ......................................................... 14 - 16 Contingency .......................................................... 17 County Clerk ............................................................... 18 - 21 Personnel ................................................................. 22 - 24 Finance ................................................................... 26 - 29 Insurance ............................................................ 30 - 31 Treasurer/Property Description ................................................. 32 - 35 Corporation Counsel ......................................................... 36 - 39 District Attorney ............................................................. 40 - 43 Victim Witness ........................................................ 44 Register of Deeds ........................................................... 46 - 48 Planning .................................................................. 50 - 53 Justice System Alternatives .............................................. 54 Zoning .................................................................... 56 - 59 Building Maintenance ........................................................ 60 - 62 PUBLIC SAFETY SECTION C Public Safety Expense Chart .................................................. 1 Sheriff Administration ........................................................ 2 - 7 Emergency Management ................................................ 8 - 10 Adult Correctional ...................................................... 11 Juvenile Detention Facility ............................................... 12 - 13 Shelter Home ......................................................... 14 - 15 TRANSPORTATION SECTION D Transportation Expense Chart ................................................. 1 Highway Department ......................................................... 2 - 4 Central Wisconsin Airport ..................................................... 6 - 8 ii Pages HEALTH Section E Health and Solid Waste Expense Chart .......................................... 1 Health Department .......................................................... 2 - 5 Solid Waste Management ..................................................... 6 - 8 SOCIAL SERVICES Section F Social Services Expense Chart ................................................. 1 Social Services Department ................................................... 2 - 5 Child Support ......................................................... 6 Juvenile Disposition and Intake ........................................... 7 - 9 Commission on Aging ........................................................ 10 - 13 Memorial Fund ........................................................ 14 Mini Bus Replacement Fund ............................................. 15 Veterans .................................................................. 16 - 18 LEISURE ACTIVITIES & EDUCATION Section G Leisure Activities & Education Expense Chart ..................................... 1 Library ................................................................... 2 - 5 Park .................................................................... 6 - 10 Reclamation Rib Falls ..................................................

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