A bipartisan committee of state lawmakers met Tuesday to negotiate a budget proposal to fix the state’s projected $1.1 billion budget deficit. The committee was faced with 320 differences to iron out. At the conclusion of the meeting, 320 differences remained.
The committee stalled after Senate Democrats and Republicans were unable to agree on whether to cut billions in aid to local governments. Senate Democrats are pushing to preserve the aid, while Republicans say if no cuts are made, the state faces higher taxes and further budget deficits.
Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said her district wouldn’t stand for higher taxes. Darling also said if taxes were raised, committee members may have to start hunting for new jobs.
“It seems like we are fine living in an overtaxed state,” Darling said. “In my district, that doesn’t fly. There’s a taxpayer revolution going on. It’s amazing when we say it’s OK that we spend as much proportionately as another state when our income is less. [Taxpayers] are going to say, ‘Get us out of here. Get rid of those monkeys!'”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, said citizens do not want shared revenue to be cut.
“[Taxpayers] say (to) cut state government,” Chvala said. “They believe in their firefighters, policemen and libraries. The fact is, the people of this state believe shared revenue should not be cut. The message was loud and clear: ‘Don’t cut our local government. That’s wrong.'”
Chvala ended his rebuttal by saying local governments will be better off when the committee ends its negotiations.
“Why did a thousand people march on the Capitol?” Chvala said. “I don’t believe you want to continue this debate. Local governments are going to come out better today than later. Do it now or do it later. It’s going to happen.”
Sen. Robert Jauch, D-Poplar, said cutting shared revenues will have a huge impact on his district because of its geographical size. Jauch’s district is larger than Rhode Island, Connecticut and Delaware.
“[Local governments] are severely hurt,” Jauch said. “They get less services. They get less money coming back to them. They have to pay more taxes. Superior is the second largest district geographically to Milwaukee and we have to deal with a lot more snow.”
Jauch said not only was cutting aid to his district wrong, but it was wrong to cut aid across the state.
“A $550 million shared-revenue cut is too big,” Jauch said. “I’d like to see [Republicans] justify it. There is no justification.”
Eliminating overlapping public services was also discussed. Chvala said there is a need to remove situations where three districts send ambulances to one emergency.
In a letter to Rep. Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, Gov. McCallum urged the committee to reach an agreement promptly.
“As you begin conference committee deliberations today on solving the state’s budget shortfall, I urge you to act quickly and reach a compromise that puts our fiscal house in order and prepares the state for a stronger economy and a brighter future,” the letter read.
Jensen said the committee has the ability to come up with some sort of solution.
“This is a talented group of people,” Jensen said. “We have the ability to debate longer than these people are willing to listen. In the end, we must [straighten out] these differences.”
The committee is scheduled to reconvene today at 10 a.m.
