Local government leaders responded Wednesday to Gov. Scott McCallum’s State of the State address and largely expressed disappointment with the governor’s lack of attention to proposed cuts in state aid to local governments.
In his first such address since replacing former Gov. Tommy Thompson 14 months ago, McCallum said Tuesday he wanted to “work together” with local leaders to solve the state’s budget deficit.
But Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said the governor’s speech was unconvincing.
“A State of the State address is supposed to lay out a vision for the future,” she said. “It’s supposed to talk about our hopes and dreams. He did not do that.”
Falk, a Democratic candidate for governor, said McCallum should have addressed new options for plugging the state’s $1.1 billion budget gap.
In his plan, released Jan. 22, McCallum proposed cutting the state’s shared revenue program, which gives state financial aid to local governments. Such cuts would eliminate $5.7 million from Dane County’s budget and $16 million annually from the City of Madison’s budget by 2004.
“The budget repair plan has received criticism from people from all walks of life,” she said. “I was hoping he would propose another solution other than cutting shared revenue.”
Falk said the county is lobbying the state Legislature in hopes of avoiding potential cuts.
Madison Mayor Sue Bauman said only a small portion of the content of McCallum’s speech addressed issues not previously discussed.
“He didn’t say where we are going from here,” she said. “I didn’t get a sense that there were a lot of innovative [ideas in the speech].”
Bauman met with McCallum and other Wisconsin mayors Wednesday to discuss his plan to cut state aid.
Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna told Associated Press the mayors agreed with the governor that the state’s financial problems need to be solved, but he said there was little agreement on the proposed cut to shared revenue.
The Legislature began revising McCallum’s budget-fix plan last week. The proposal must pass both houses of the Legislature and be signed by the governor before any cuts to city and county budgets are finalized.
