By Jeff Starck • For Central Wisconsin Sunday • October 11, 2009

Turning on the lights will help pay the salaries for district
attorneys across the state for the next two years.

A provision in the state budget passed this summer requires all
Wisconsin electric utilities to collect fees from customers totaling
$18.2 million over two years to help pay district attorney salaries
and benefits, according to budget documents. The fee ends June 30,
2011.

Wisconsin Public Service Corp. says its residential customers will pay
$3.24 annually — or 27 cents a month — and it will appear on their
bill as “Wisconsin 2009 Act 28.” Businesses will pay about $10
annually.

The fees began showing up on bills Sept. 28, and the utility company
included an informational letter in recent billing statements. The
letter directs questions to the Wisconsin Department of
Administration.

WPSC spokeswoman Kelly Zagrzebski said the utility company has not
taken a stance on the fee. Zagrzebski said she has not heard of any
complaints yet, but they could come as customers learn about the fee.

Carrie Lynch, a spokeswoman for Sen. Russ Decker, D-Weston, said the
Legislature changed the budget to add district attorneys to those who
receive “public benefit fees” from utilities. The state’s welfare
program, Wisconsin Works (W-2), has received $18.2 million in
utility-based fees since 2003, Lynch said.

“District attorneys will say they are understaffed, and this was meant
to prevent job cuts,” Lynch said. Decker supported the measure, she
said.

Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which oversees the
state’s district attorneys, declined to comment, spokesman Bill Cosh
said.