The Joint Finance Committee reported a $135 million surplus for the 2015 fiscal year budget.
In a joint statement, committee co-chairs Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, said the extra money shows how much Wisconsin is improving financially.
“Careful budgeting and tax cuts are creating an environment where revenues are growing better than predicted,” Darling and Nygren said in a statement.
But Reps. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, and Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, said in a statement the surplus is just an illusion, and those dollars come from skipping debt payments, raiding compensation reserve and capturing two years of Potawatomi gaming payments in one year.
Hintz said less than 18 percent of the 2015 budget fix came from unanticipated revenue.
“Instead of patting themselves on the back for a fake surplus, Republicans should be working to address the $250 million hole they left in the UW system and the flat funding for Wisconsin’s struggling public schools,” Taylor said in the statement.
Taylor and Hintz wrote the $418.9 million difference between the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s budget estimate in January and the current balance shows that increased tax collections of $71.4 million accounted for just a small portion of the budget fix.
The JFC cited a 4.3 percent increase in tax revenues, according to the Department of Administration’s annual report of the state’s general fund.
The report highlighted the state’s main expenditures. The largest portion of expenditures in the 2015 budget were directed to school districts and other local units of government, consistent with past years.
According to the report, the top three programs the expenditures went to were school aids, medical assistance and correctional services.
Earlier this year, JFC reported it was facing a multi-billion dollar deficit, which is why this budget surplus may come as a surprise.
Sen. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, complained in a statement in March JFC wasn’t answering how to support public programs because of their deep deficits.
Despite concerns from Democrats about how this budget surplus came to be, Republicans defended the extra funds.
“Wisconsin continues to be better off than it was five years ago,” Darling and Nygren said in a statement. “Republicans will continue to protect taxpayers and boost our vastly improved business climate.”
JFC leaders did not respond to requests for comment in regards to where the extra money will go.
