Home Heating Aid Sorely Needed

March 6, 2006
Portage Daily Register

Hundreds of families in south central Wisconsin will benefit from home heating help authorized by state lawmakers.

Republican legislators and Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle announced Thursday an agreement to provide $6 million in aid to help Wisconsinites pay their heat bills. Lawmakers said these funds will benefit up to 40,000 state families at a time when heating costs have risen as much as 30 percent and up to 20,000 more families are behind on their heating bills compared to last winter.

While it's unclear how much of the money will reach Columbia and Sauk counties, Tim Bruer of Energy Services Inc. hailed the announcement. "Over one-third of the people applying (for aid) are applying for the first time, and most are just a few dollars over the income guidelines," he said.

Energy Services administers home heating aid programs for Columbia and Sauk counties. Bruer said 50 percent of households seeking aid in the two counties face a financial crisis in paying heat bills, up from 20 percent last year. "For them, heat a necessity has become a luxury," he said.

Energy Services already has provided more non-emergency aid this winter than last, Bruer said, and the winter heating season isn't over yet. The agency has served 1,350 Columbia County families at a cost of $286,000 so far. In Sauk County, more than 2,000 families have shared $677,000 in aid.

Lawmakers' compromise called for making larger payments to families with lower income limits, rather than the higher income limit Doyle wanted. The limit will rise to $33,863 for a family of four, or 175 percent of the federal poverty line. Doyle had originally called for using the $6 million to raise the eligibility limit to $40,000 for a family of four, about 200 percent of the federal limit.

The compromise will provide an average of $150 to as many as 40,000 families, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Doyle's original proposal would have provided about $73 to 81,000 families.

Critics said the income limits weren't high enough to help struggling families. But supporters said lower income limits would make more money available to the poorer families who most need help.

"I would sooner see (the state) giving more to those people who really need it," said state Rep. J.A. "Doc" Hines, R-Oxford, who represents the Baraboo and Portage areas in the Assembly.

Bruer said low-income families have been pinched by rising energy costs and increasing demand for a stagnant pool of aid. "The pie continues to shrink," he said. "These households are falling farther and farther behind."

Doyle said checks would be available after May 15, and that his office was working with utilities to try to ensure no families have their heat cut off before the assistance arrives. Under state law, utilities can't cut off residents from Nov. 1 to April 15 if they already are connected.

Wisconsin already had about $79 million in state and federal dollars set aside to help low-income families pay electric and heating bills, according the state Department of Administration.
"People that were not eligible for this program because they were over the income limit just a smidgen now are eligible," said Craig Gaetzke, who oversees the Central Wisconsin Community Action Council's energy assistance programs in Adams, Juneau and Waushara counties. "It will benefit people throughout the state, including our own local area."

The Senate passed Thursday's aid proposal by a 29-4 vote Thursday. The Assembly later approved it 93-4.