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WJFW News

Vilas County Changes Course, Will Allow Voluntary Reduction Submitted: 11/26/2012

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EAGLE RIVER - Earlier this year the Vilas County board rejected a proposed voluntary staff reduction.

That meant more than 10 employees would have to be cut.

But with those cuts getting closer, the board back-tracked.

Now it will let staff members take a voluntary reduction afterall.

County Board Chairman Steve Favorite says people realized how much layoffs cost.

"We do have a severance package," Favorite said.

"Then we're also self-funded through unemployment. So when they saw at the budget hearings how much it cost to layoff people, they were in a sense a little shell-shocked. I think that got a little more buy-in when this voluntary reduction in force came back."

Vilas County now has two options to save money -- through voluntary reductions and layoffs.

Favorite says they worked with all department heads to find savings but the voluntary reduction is county-wide.

"It's available for all employees," Favorite said.

"People who have been here one year, to as long as 30 plus years. It's a calculated payment benefit based on your years of service and your annual earnings."

Employees who want to take the voluntary reduction have until early January to decide.

The County Board will hold another meeting Tuesday at 9:00 am to finalize the 2013 budget.

Story By: Matt Doyle

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Woodruff Celebrates 125th Birthday Submitted: 05/25/2013

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Verdict in Raw Milk Trial Submitted: 05/25/2013

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Hershberger could get up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine.

They found the 41-year-old not guilty of charges that he sold retail food, produced milk and operated a dairy plant without proper state licenses.

His supporters have said he was targeted because he sold raw milk through a private buying club with several hundred members.

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Fire Levels Garage in Merrill Submitted: 05/25/2013

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Fire Burns Rhinelander Apartment Building Submitted: 05/24/2013

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RHINELANDER - People jumped from a second story window to escape an early morning fire in Rhinelander.

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Half of a four unit apartment building was already in flames when they got there.

Five people living in the building had already gotten out.

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Minocqua Farmers Market Opens for the Season Submitted: 05/24/2013

MINOCQUA - Many of us have been waiting for home-grown fruits and vegetables.

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Little Free Libraries Promote Reading Submitted: 05/24/2013

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Possible End to One Walleye Fight Submitted: 05/24/2013

LAC DU FLAMBEAU - The back-and-forth between state lawmakers and the Lac du Flambeau tribe might be over.

Dean Kaufert is a Republican representing Neenah. He wanted to strip a quarter-million dollars of funding from the tribe. That money would have gone to fund a new cultural center.

His original move was a protest against the Chippewa lowering walleye bag limits. That happened on many lakes in the ceded territory this spring.

"I was kind of having some difficulty with some of my colleagues in the Legislature with convincing them that we needed to play hardball by holding this project back," says Rep. Kaufert.

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Kaufert now will not stand in the way of the cultural center money.

"The Governor asked me if I would consider releasing that project due to their ongoing discussions about trying to create a better environment up north for fish stocking and number of walleyes in our lakes," says Rep. Kaufert.

This week, Governor Scott Walker also proposed a state project to put more walleye in Wisconsin's lakes.

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