News

State economy bleak

With the national economy in a recession, the state economy

is hurting as well. Predictions of the state budget shortfall are

nearing $1.3 billion because of declining revenues, Gov. Scott

McCallum announced Friday.

Early estimations reported by McCallum were as low as $300

million.

Revenue shortfalls are unlikely to be concrete until after the

holiday season when consumer patterns are evident.

The legislature is out of session until January; however, McCallum

has the option of calling a special session to address the

problem.

In mid-November, McCallum handed the problem to

legislators with his statement saying he would not take action

without a bipartisan recommendation.

Mike Browne, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck

Chvala, D-Madison, said it was impossible to make any

recommendations without an exact calculation of the shortfall.

“We need a number to decide what we are going to do,”

Browne said. “To put together a plan we need to know what the

size of the problem is.”

It has become apparent McCallum has an economic recovery

strategy with his decline to comment on his plan and promise to

provide more details later this week.

McCallum also said legislators have had other things on their

minds, such as redistricting and the caucus investigation.

“They’ve got a lot of things going on,” McCallum told the

Associated Press. “I’m sure some are distracted more than

others.”

Wisconsin’s financial problem was exacerbated by the state’s

projected revenue increase from sales and income tax. Despite

the prediction, the revenue for July, August and September

decreased to $1.43 billion from $1.45 billion a year ago.