After negotiations lasting through much of Wednesday night, Governor Tony Evers and Republican leaders have reached a tentative agreement on shared revenue, according to an announcement from Evers Thursday afternoon.
“For too long, our communities have been asked to do more with less, and this agreement is critical to ensure our local partners have the resources they need to meet basic and unique needs alike,” Evers said in the release.
This agreement, which was reached between Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, will give significant funding to state governments and K-12 education and schools.
The agreement comes after Vos made an announcement yesterday threatening to pull all Milwaukee based proposals from the shared revenue deal if an agreement was not reached, according to WTMJ.
Shared revenue is money that the state government provides for municipalities, cities, counties and schools that comes with no strings attached. Once money is received, they can use it for any purpose, according to a May report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Money for shared revenue comes from taxes paid by citizens in those cities and counties, according to the Journal Sentinel report.
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The compromise also provides the City of Milwaukee with the tools needed to avoid fiscal crisis and bankruptcy, including allowing Milwaukee City leaders to decide if sales taxes should be raised.
Vos said in a statement Thursday that the compromise that provides funding for Milwaukee restricts where they use the funds.
“There are strict prohibitions on the use of funds for the Milwaukee sales tax funds, guaranteeing that they cannot spend on frivolous things such as street cars and woke diversity and equity initiatives,” Vos said. “Instead, they will be required to use the money to defray the costs of their failing pension system and increase the number of police officers on the street keeping their community safe.”
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said that he supported the bill and appreciated the effort from the state government to consider the serious crisis facing Milwaukee.
The Assembly passed a shared revenue bill back in May, according to the Associated Press, which passed tightly along party lines.
Vos said then that Republicans were done negotiating on the bill, but at the time, they still needed the Senate to vote in favor, and for Governor Evers to sign it. Evers said he would veto the original bill, but promised to continue negotiations.
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Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are excited about this new compromise announced today.
Republican Senator Jesse James said that he is pleased to see funding to local governments, support for law enforcement and increased school choice. Democratic Senate Leader Melissa Agard and Assembly Leader Greta Neubauer also said they approved of the compromise in a statement on Thursday.
“Our local communities have been starved of shared revenue funding for years, impacting their ability to provide essential local services to their residents. We appreciate that our Republican colleagues have finally recognized the importance of this issue after their years of inaction,” Neubauer and Agard said.
According to the announcement from Governor Evers, the deal will also provide significant funding for public schools including over $1 billion to spendable revenue for K-12 schools, $50 million for improving reading and literacy in public schools, $30 million for school mental health services and aid for choice and independent charter schools.
