In the midst of a potential recall and a recent government report stating his job promises during his campaign were far-fetched, Gov. Scott Walker’s office launched a website last week to show the necessity and results of this year’s reforms.
According to the reforms.wi.gov website released last Friday, under the Walker administration, $460.8 million in tax dollars have already been saved by the implementation of his various reforms, with millions more in savings expected through the remainder of his term.
Andrew Welhouse, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the Walker administration is stimulating job creation by making a better environment for businesses.
He said by solving deficits through cuts and not by raising taxes on businesses, the new budget has improved Wisconsin’s business climate and helped the private sector create jobs.
The previous budget had a structural deficit of $3.6 billion when the governor took office. With the budget he passed for 2011-13, the state is estimated to see a $300 million surplus, Welhouse said.
“There were parts of the budget that got less money than they previously had,” Welhouse said. “There were position reductions. We cut bonding authorization by about 20 percent; employees had to contribute more to their health care and pension funds. It’s not hard to find cuts.”
Welhouse said the site is not a response to a Department of Revenue report released last Friday which said the state would not make Walker’s campaign promise of 250,000 new jobs by 2015. Rather, he said, it is a tool which allows Wisconsinites to see how the reforms have helped the state financially.
Graeme Zielinski, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said he did not believe the site is necessarily related to the DOR’s report but it is most likely a campaign tool for the governor in preparation for a possible recall election.
“[The site] is an attempt to use tax payer resources for propaganda,” Zielinski said. “When Walker is making significant budget cuts, he is using state resources to defend himself against recall. This is blatantly a campaign tool.”
According to Zielinski, there are no facts to back up the claims made by the site. Under Walker, state spending has gone up, unemployment has increased and Wisconsin is now leading the nation in education and health care cuts, he said.
The site shows state savings in the areas of education and local government policy reform. According to the site, schools and local governments are saving money by now requiring employees to contribute to their pension funds.
State employees previously paid nothing, or close to nothing, to their pensions. They are now required to pay 5.6 percent of their salary to their pension funds, which is then matched by the state, the website said.
Zielinski said the estimated $300 million surplus in this budget is entirely incorrect. He also said Wisconsin is more likely to see a large deficit instead.
“[Walker] cut services to the bone; you can’t cut any more,” he said. “These were one-time spending savings. The real pain [of the budget repair bill] is coming next year.”
