Year in Review: Top 10 Government Stories of 2011

Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling successfully defended her 8th Senate District seat from Democratic challenger Rep. Sandy Pasch by posting an 8 percentage point victory in a key recall election. The recall election was sparked by 30,000 residents signing petitions to recall Darling. That movement was spearheaded by Shorewood resident Kristopher Rowe.

Whitefish Bay could end up paying between $71.1 million to $93.5 million for repairs to village sewer systems, depending upon the approach village officials decide upon at future meetings.

Trustees will consider two tiers of proposed storm sewer system improvements, which could cost either $23 million or $36 million. A village committee will be tasked with recommending one of three tiers of protection for the sanitary sewer system, which could cost either 57.5 million, $54.5 million, or $49.1 million.

Tensions were high on July 25, when an overflow crowd of about 120 people packed into U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner's town hall meeting at .

But with only two weeks until the between Darling and Pasch, the crowd seemed more focused on the two politicians who weren't in the board room. The crowd was filled with people wearing campaign shirts for both Pasch and Darling, and Democratic residents held signs reading "shame" and "wrong" whenever Sensenbrenner or a conservative resident made a claim that triggered their attention.

The Whitefish Bay School District was strapped for cash going into the budget cycle, facing a projected $1.26 million cut in state aid under a larger $800 million cut in school funding in Gov. Scott Walker's budget.

The School Board responded by in May that reduced the equivalent of 0.6 full-time employees. The state aid cuts were mainly offset by salary freezes, increased employee contributions to pension costs and health insurance plan design changes. .

The owner of a $400,000 home will pay $94 less in school taxes this year, as the tax levy will drop $440,878, or 2.05 percent, from $21.5 million in 2010-2011 to $21.1 million this year.

The Whitefish Bay Village Board approved a nearly $14 million budget that includes a levy increase of 2.56 percent over last year, bringing the levy to roughly $10.5 million. The tax rate increased from $5.18 per $1,000 assess value to $5.31 per assessed value, meaning a resident with a home assessed at $400,000 will see village taxes rise by $52 to $2,124.

The leadership of the Village Board changed in April, with a new village president and two new trustees joining the board.

took over as village president, replacing nine-year incumbent , who did not seek re-election. Lauri Rollings and Brenda Szumski took over as new trustees, edging out fellow write-in candidates Andrew Martin and William Demet in the April election for two open trustee seats.

In the Whitefish Bay School Board election, incumbents Marie Greco and Jim Phillips from resident Anne Berleman Kearney.

The Whitefish Bay Village Board approved a revised natural turf care program in village parks that will cost $18,382 - or about $15,000 more than spraying herbicides. The plan includes aerating, spraying compost tea and adding nutrients to the soil in , , and Schoolhouse parks, as well as to greenspace at Fairmount and Lydell parks.

The Whitefish Bay School District will see half of its $1.2 million soured investment returned under to one of the two brokerage firms handling the money. The district will get back $632,000 of the $1.2 million it initially invested in 2006, according to the SEC order issued against RBC, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada.

Trustees agreed  to merge emergency dispatch operations with Bayside, Fox Point and River Hills, and to borrow up to $400,000 for the first year of the merged operation. Merged police and fire dispatch services, proposed for spring 2012, is expected improve service and save more than $230,000 within the first 10 years of the joint operation.

Expected service improvements include speedier response times, fewer 911 call transfers between dispatch centers and reduced potential for human and technological error.

The Milwaukee County Board's redistricting plan split Whitefish Bay into two separate supervisory districts for the first time since 1970 and reduced the size of the board from 19 to 18. Joe Rice, the county supervisor who has represented most of the North Shore since 2004, was the sole supervisor to lose his seat. About 150 people attended a forum about the redistricting at the in June. Whitefish Bay joined other Milwaukee County municipalities in . Earlier this month, Rice he would not seek re-election.