April 26, 2007
Geneva Lake financial impact great
by Lisa Seiser

There is no doubt, Geneva Lake plays a major role in the economy of the area and Walworth County as a whole.

However, the numbers may be startling.

According to results from a Geneva Lake Watershed survey conducted by the Fiscal and Economic Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, that financial impact of the immediate area around Geneva Lake is well more than $321 million per year.

In fall, the Geneva Lake Conservancy teamed with FERC to conduct a study of the watershed in an effort to gather information about the possible effects, knowledge and property owner’s feelings about future growth and development in the area.

After months of waiting, the results are in and the full report is complete. The Conservancy and FERC held a joint conference Monday morning to release the information.

The watershed surrounds Geneva Lake and includes parts or all of six municipalities, including Lake Geneva, Linn Township, Geneva Township, Walworth Township, Williams Bay and Fontana. The watershed is determined as the area in which water drains into the lake.

More than 1,600 surveys were randomly mailed to property owners in the Geneva Lake watershed, of which, 492 were completed and returned. The 33-question survey asked a multitude of questions about the watershed, property values, income, development, water quality issues, preservation, economic and housing development, possible future changes in the area and spending in the area.

The report focuses on three issues, including the opinion on questions regarding future development, the support those questions have within demographic categories and the economic impact the watershed has on the local economy.

For those analyzing the study, the results show that households just in the watershed generate $321 million in spending, $57 million in labor income and 2,904 jobs in the region. According to FERC, that is about 15 percent of the local workforce.

“The lake is an engine of growth just like any other business out there,” FERC researcher Russ Kashian said. “The lake is a huge division of economic growth and are we treating it in the same way (as a business or industry)? Are we doing what we need to do to satisfy the lake?”

According to the report, the $321 million per year does not include financial impacts of tourism or the area hotels in the watershed. Only watershed households were used to determine the fiscal impact. FERC researchers said the total is a conservative number because it only includes the watershed area. Researchers said the number did not include the economic impact brought by the Abbey Resort in Fontana, half of the city of Lake Geneva or the tourism dollars spent in downtown Lake Geneva.

“If we were to expand this, the number would have been bigger,” Kashian said.

The Geneva Lake number compares to $63.9 million per year in the Delavan Lake Sanitary District. There, $11.7 million in labor impact and 541 jobs for the Delavan area economy. That means, the the households in the Geneva Lake watershed generate economic activity that is about five times that of the households around Delavan Lake.

“We were bowled over by the economic impact this lake itself has and the economic value,” Geneva Lake Conservancy Board member Chuck Ebeling said when the report first came out. “It brings hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity that would not be here if not for the lake.”

He said Monday that the impact is key to making people, including local municipal leaders understand the impact of the lake on everyone.

“This would not be here if not for the lake being in a healthy condition,” Ebeling said. “This is an incredible economic stake we all have in the health of the lake and the watershed.”

Survey results used for future

Geneva Lake Conservancy Executive Director Jim Celano said the survey results are just one part of an effort to inform people and their decision-making about the future.

“We need to start thinking and acting like a region and that is not happening around this lake,” Celano said. “Each community is important, but that is not the end of the game. We have to realize neighbors are part of the decision-making.”

He said people are starting to realize how important what they do is to the land, the watershed and the lake.

Ebeling said the survey was done to learn and gather an understanding of the watershed and the people.

“What is the level of awareness, care and concern they have about conservation issues and to what extent can we learn from their opinions?” Ebeling said. “What extent do they validate our thoughts and what can we learn that is new and the feedback we can take back to community leaders for their decision-making.”