Legislature Balances Budget

Last week, the Wisconsin Legislature passed the 2011-2013 biennial budget. The budget is now awaiting Governor Walker’s review and signature. This budget kept my campaign promise of fixing Wisconsin’s $3.6 billion deficit by cutting spending and not raising taxes.  This is an honest budget that eliminates our deficit, eliminates our structural deficit, and leaves Wisconsin with a projected $300 million surplus on June 30, 2013.
 
Governor Walker proposed a lean budget, meant to address the fiscal challenges ahead of Wisconsin. The Legislature improved on Governor Walker’s outline by maintaining our commitment to SeniorCare, removing the delay of the phosphorus rules and restoring recycling funding to help protect our environment. After hearing from school districts across the state that education cuts went too deep, we added an additional $118 million to education. We listened to UW schools who said they needed additional flexibility by giving them new options to manage their budgets.
 
The Legislature also took steps to hold the line on taxes. The Regional Transit Authority, an unelected taxing body with little or no accountability, was eliminated. We increased direct aid to local governments by $20 million and we restored most local road aids. Perhaps most importantly, we froze property taxes into the future, allowing more families to stay in their homes.
 
Locally, we also took steps to improve the budget’s impact on Racine County. I was able to restore an additional $1.75 million in state funding for Racine Unified.  We maintained SAGE in Racine schools and even brought it to additional schools. We made sure that employees who are losing their jobs at Southern Oaks receive hiring preferences elsewhere. We provided educational choice in a responsible, measured way to low income Racine schoolchildren who are underserved or underperforming in Unified.
 
But even more importantly, this budget continues our efforts to grow Wisconsin’s economy. In addition to not raising taxes, and freezing property taxes, we made jobs-friendly tax changes for Wisconsin job creators. We funded the new Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation so that it can focus on economic growth. We put Wisconsin’s fiscal house in order and added stability and predictability to Wisconsin government.
 
This budget isn’t perfect – no budget is. There are parts of the budget that I disagree with. But when I weighed the pros and cons, and remembered the promises I made during my campaign, this is a budget that deserved my support and my vote.