November 2021

TOWN OF MIDDLETON–The Town of Middleton’s 2022 budget cuts the tax rate, lowers borrowing and the deficit while boosting spending.

The mill rate lowers from $2.36 per thousand assessed evaluation last year to $2.16 this year, which reduces the town’s taxes on a $600,000 house by $139 to $1,270. The town’s taxes on a $400,000 house are lowered by $91 to $851, according to budget information presented at a Nov. 16 public hearing.

Those figures don’t include taxes imposed by the school district, county and technical college district.

The town will borrow $1.176 million next year for road and stormwater projects. Road improvements estimated at $790,00 include repaving Almor Drive, Westman Way Court and Pamela Circle.

MIDDLETON–The Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District (MCPASD) will not have to eliminate busing students living less than two miles from a school as enough parents have opted out of district-provided transportation, Superintendent Dana Monogue said on Nov. 15.

Due to a chronic shortage of bus drivers, district administrators last week asked the school board to change the walk zone policy that buses students living 1.1 miles from a school to two miles, effective in Jan. 3.

Board members found the timing to be disruptive to families and asked administrators to poll them about opting out of having their children bused to school. Also, if there was any interest in becoming a bus driver.

The response this past week was “gratifying and overwhelming,” said Monogue, as families of a combined 907 students have opted out of taking the bus,“ plus, there was significant interest in driving a bus route.

DANE–Werner A. Roth, 90, of Springfield Corners passed away peacefully on Nov. 16, 2021 at UW Hospital in Madison surrounded by his loving family. He was born on April 25, 1931 in Sauk City, to Alois and Helena (Seiler) Roth. On June 21, 1960 he married Mildred (Ballweg) in Roxbury.

Werner attended elementary school in Sauk City and earned his GED while he was in the Army. He proudly served in Korea for two years during the Korean War where he was a heavy equipment operator. One of his favorite stories to share from his time in Korea was when he was asked by a small village to clear an area with his bulldozer to build a school. He was rewarded with a pan of brownies which he happily accepted. For 44 years he worked at Oscar Mayer Foods in Madison starting out as a meat cutter and doing various other jobs within the factory, ending his career in 1996 in the Lunchables department. In 2015 he enjoyed a trip on the Badger Honor Flight to Washington DC with his son, Mike.

MIDDLETON–Janet Beth Fosdal, 83, of Middleton, passed away peacefully in Minnesota, with her daughters by her side, on Nov. 16, 2021.

Beth was born and raised in Waukesha. She graduated from Methodist Hospital School of Nursing in Madison., in 1959. She then became a flight attendant for American Airlines before working as a psychiatric nurse at the Diagnostic Center in Madison.

Beth was an avid volunteer and activist who, most notably, chaired the City of Middleton's Committee on Aging from 1972 to 1992, which helped establish today's Middleton Senior Center. She embodied the value of generosity in her work.

She cherished time with her multitude of friends and family. Grandma Beth was a mother and grandmother extraordinaire who always went the extra mile to make her family feel loved.

Friends and family will remember and miss Beth's warmth, hospitality, intelligence, humor, vivaciousness, selflessness and compassion.