“Are ATVs an economic benefit?”
To the Editor:
A town supervisor in Presque Isle recently said with a good deal of disgust, “Most of you people never had to earn a dollar up here!” He appeared to be suggesting that those he was addressing really had no right to venture their opinions that PI should not approve ATVs. It was the contention of this supervisor that PI needs ATV traffic in order to survive economically. That got me thinking.
First of all, when I was going to college, I did earn a dollar up here working two summers in Boulder Junction — not PI, but close enough. Most of those dollars I earned in BJ left the local area and enriched the economy of Madison. So, like many of those working in the local tourist trade today, I was probably much more of a drain on that economy than a benefit to it.
A little research reveals that as of June 2021, there were 506 properties listed in Vilas County in PI owned by PI residents and 2546 properties listed in PI owned by people who reside elsewhere (in 31 states). Those nonresident taxpayers paid $3,524,749 in real estate taxes in 2020 as compared to $749,033 for the PI residents. So, nonresident property owners paid 82.5% of the real estate taxes. Those taxes paid a large part of the salaries of teachers, road maintenance workers, janitors and many others who live in Presque Isle (including the town supervisors & chairman). I would say that in doing so, those nonresident property owners contributed significantly to the PI economy. Most of those nonresidents never did earn a dollar in PI. Instead, they brought the dollars they earned elsewhere to PI to spend them on the properties they own now — to the tune of nearly $500 million in current valuation. That put a lot of money into the hands of local folks who sell real estate. To say nothing of the local carpenters, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, private road builders and others who build and/or service these properties owned by folks whose opinions don’t count.
Finally, a very large portion of the nonresident property owners buy groceries, gas, hire guides, go to restaurants, buy hardware, etc. Of course, we need to include many of the local full time resident retirees in the group who never earned a dollar in PI yet contribute to the economy immensely in all the ways listed above. Both part and full time residents support the local businesses during the off seasons when almost no tourists are around and certainly are here much longer than tourists.
Tourists are very important, but we should remember that tourists bring money directly to only a few of the local people listed above, but have no direct effect on many of them. Tourists typically have no particular alliance to PI and if they don’t like ATV traffic, they will not come back to PI. Meanwhile, BJ does not allow ATVs and is setting records for room tax receipts (the only quantitative measure we have for the tourist related economy of local towns). Vilas county sales taxes are also setting records.
Whether an individual is a tourist, full time resident or part timer; it is very likely that they spend time in Presque Isle to get away from the noise, hustle and bustle of other locations. The peace and quiet to be found in Presque Isle and neighboring communities is rare and becoming much rarer as ATV/UTV traffic gets allowed almost everywhere else. Those folks who want to ride an ATV need only trailer their vehicle a short distance in any direction to enjoy that activity. The folks who have a home or cabin only to have an ATV highway route created on their doorstep have no way to avoid that disruption other than selling and then trying to find somewhere that still has the tranquility they were just cheated out of.
Steve Halverson
Boulder Junction