Doyle and Lawmakers Have Tough Budget Negotiations Ahead of Them

Thursday, October 23, 2008 7:17 AM CDT

Joan Sanstadt, News Editor

It’s never easy for lawmakers and a governor to agree on a budget. Last time around the 2007-09 budget wasn’t decided until October, more than four months after its due date of July 1, 2007.

Last week Gov. Jim Doyle took preemptive action by announcing the state could well be facing a $3 billion shortfall that could have an impact on every Wisconsinite.

This news won’t make it any easier to finalize the 2009-11 budget n in fact it may be much, much harder.

It was a wise move, on Doyle’s part, to announce the likely shortage well before his State of the State message next February that will be followed shortly thereafter by his budget proposal.

The timing not only gives taxpayers time to assimilate what this could mean to their own budgets, it’s good for another reason.

“What are you willing to cut in the next budget?” This is a question voters should be ready to ask every candidate running for legislative office this fall.

The monetary shortage shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to anyone who tries to keep tabs on state spending. Last spring it was known there was already a $527 million budget shortfall. (By the time the current budget period ends in June that shortfall could be even higher.)

But what no one n the governor or the legislature could have known n was that the national financial system would need a $700 billion bailout before the November election.

Among the options the governor said he couldn’t remove from the table were things like job cuts, delays in spending for health programs and even reductions in spending for education at both the local and university level.

Department of Revenue (DOR) figures at the end of September showed state sales tax revenue was down 10 percent and expected receipts from the state income tax were down 4.1 percent. When October figures are known, they’ll probably be even lower.

The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance President Todd Berry said the fact the state has only a very thin “rainy day” cushion makes it harder to absorb shortfalls.

Are there any remedies in sight? Are any of them palatable?

One remedy was made by the governor in September when he asked state agencies to cut their budgets by 10 percent. Last week, he asked for another 10 percent cut. While those cuts are serious for any agency, they are especially difficult for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) where workers have constantly taken on additional work loads (without additional pay) and segregated funds have often been raided. The only way to get more money may be the unpalatable method of raising fees.

An editorial writer for the Wisconsin State Journal said lawmakers could forego the 6.3 percent pay increase they are scheduled to receive in 2009. I wouldn’t want to even guess at the popularity of such a suggestion.

Another idea would be to make a serious attempt to collect sales tax on all Internet sales. This is something that more and more states may be also be considering. Wisconsin estimates that sales tax on Internet sales transactions could bring in an additional $46.5 million in revenue over the next two years.

The DOR believes a tax on iPod sales of digital music and books (in effect, treating them the same as how compact discs and paper books are treated) would result in an additional $11.4 million during a two-year period.

Wisconsin is not the only state to be experiencing money woes n but it is one of the states already considered to be one of the higher taxing states.

At last summer’s meeting of the National Association of State Legislatures, it appeared the only states not experiencing budget problems were those with mineral and oil revenues.

County and city officials are trying some rather unique cost-cutting measures. In Madison, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk has said she would cut funding for staff attorneys if courts do not place 45 jail inmates in a community service program by May 1.

This led Dane County Chief Judge William Foust to forcefully disagree. In a letter to Falk, Foust said judges should not have to worry if their sentencing decisions are going to cost them staff funding.

Meanwhile the Eau Claire City Council is looking at a way to add a snowplow charge, based on a property owner’s street frontage, on to tax bills.

Voting

More and more absentee ballots are being cast this year. The reason, many say, is that they are trying to avoid long lines at the polling places on Nov. 4.

Spokespersons for both the Obama and McCain campaigns have said they encourage early voting.

Wisconsin is one of the few states that allow new voters to register at the polls on Election Day. But that option may not be available for everyone requesting an absentee ballot. That’s because anyone requesting an absentee ballot must already be a registered voter. For voters who have changed addresses since they last voted, they must complete new registration before they can obtain an absentee ballot.

However, those going in person to a municipal clerk’s office can update their registration and cast an absentee ballot in a single visit.

Congressional races

Only two incumbent House members of Wisconsin’s Congressional Delegation are without opponents on Nov. 4.

They are Fifth District Congressman James Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Menomonee Falls, and Fourth District Congresswoman Gwen Moore, a Democrat from Milwaukee.

Third District Congressman Ron Kind, a Democrat from La Crosse, has two opponents. They are Paul Stark, a Republican from Eau Claire, and Kevin Barrett, a Libertarian candidate from Lone Rock.

Congressman Tom Petri, the Republican incumbent for the Sixth District from Fond du Lac, will face Democrat Roger Kittelson, a Democrat from Lomira.

Incumbent Congressman David Obey, a Democrat from Wausau who represents the Seventh District, will face Republican Dan Mielke from Rudolph on Nov. 4.

In the Eighth District, first term incumbent Steven Kagen, a Democrat from Appleton, will again face Republican John Gard from Suamico, former Wisconsin Assembly Speaker, who narrowly lost to Kagen in 2006. This is the only district where the challenger tallied more votes than the incumbent in the September primary. Primary results found Gard with 16,569 votes and Kagen with 14,500 votes.

Incumbent First District Congressman Paul Ryan, a Republican from Janesville, also has two opponents on Nov. 4. They are Marge Krupp, a Democrat from Pleasant Prairie and Joseph Kexel, a Libertarian from Kenosha.

In the Second Congressional District, Incumbent Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Madison, will face Republican Peter Theron, also from Madison.

Members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms.

Time to fall back

At 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2, Daylight Saving Time (DST) ends for the year and Daylight Standard Time begins.

Time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. began in 2007 because of provisions President George W. Bush signed into law as part of Energy Policy Act of 2005.

When standard time begins, the effect is to move an hour of daylight from morning to evening.

In 2009, Daylight Saving Time will begin on March 8 and end on Nov. 1.

Most people remember how to reset their clocks by recalling the adage, “spring forward, fall back.”

In case anyone has a trip planned to any of the countries in the European Union it might be wise to pay careful attention to the time because the switch between Daylight Saving Time and Daylight Standard Time occurs on different dates than in the United States.

Capitol Notes:

- The U.S. Department of the Interior, in a legal settlement reached with three environmental groups, has agreed to set aside areas of the Arctic deemed critical polar bear habitat. These areas would be considered no-drill zones. The areas must be designated by June 30, 2010.

- That $700 billion financial bailout measure will help farmers with depreciation expense. It reduces the depreciation schedule from seven to five years for farm machinery or equipment purchased and put into use during calendar year 2009. It does not include such land improvements as fencing. Wisconsin law changed in 2006 to follow the federal depreciation rate.

- Sounds like DNR authorities may have identified how wild (feral) hogs came into Wisconsin back in 2002. A Texan, Robert S. Johnson, was cited earlier in 2008 for illegal stocking wild animals in an effort to attract hunters to his farm and his trial will resume this week before a Crawford County judge. Investigators are considering that Johnson’s motive for releasing the wild hogs was because he didn’t like Wisconsin deer hunting rules. Not only have the wild pigs caused untold crop damage, a Clark County pseudorabies outbreak last year was traced to wild hogs.

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