STATE SHARED REVENUE TO RIPON COULD BE CUT...

On Tuesday, Feb. 17, Gov. Doyle announced his 2009-11 state budget, AB 75, and outlined his plan for dealing with a projected $5.7 billion deficit going into the next biennium. One of the areas he has targeted for a reduction is state-shared revenue. According to the Wisconsin League of Municipalities, the funding for the program has decreased by 5.5 percent, including a $70 million cut in 2004, since 1997.

Governor Doyle is proposing that shared revenue funding be reduced by 1 percent next year. Under the Governor's proposal, each municipality will receive the same amount of shared revenue this year that it received in 2008. In 2010, total funding for the $850 million program will be reduced by $8.5 million. About $1.5 million of the cut applies to counties and $7 million applies to cities, villages and towns.

The reduction is to be apportioned among local governments first on the basis of equalized value. No municipality's payment can be reduced by more than 15% from its 2009 payment. The remainder of the reduction will be accomplished on a per capita basis. The League of Municipalities did a rough estimate and came up with the following numbers:
2009 RIPON - SHARED REVENUE - $1,582,093
2010 RIPON - SHARED REVENUE - $1,575,597
LOSS - $6,496
This means we will either have to raise taxes $6,456 or cut expenses by the same amount to keep the budget balanced in 2010. Of course, the budget still has to go through the Legislature, but I do not anticipate many changes.

OTHER PROPOSAL IN THE BUDGET (Courtesy of the League of Municipalities)
Expenditure Restraint Program: The Governor’s budget makes no changes to the expenditure restraint program. The total funding remains the same as it has been – about $58 million. This program rewards municipalities which keep their spending increases below a certain level. Ripon has qualified for this program each year of my administration.
Levy Limits: The Governor proposes extending levy limits for another two years. Under his proposal, in 2009 and 2010 municipalities would be able to increase their levies by the greater of three percent or the percentage increase in equalized value due to net new construction. The Governor also recommends allowing municipalities to carry forward unused levy capacity.
Transportation Aid: The Governor recommends reducing funding for the general transportation aids program by 1 percent in 2010. The 2009 funding level is untouched by the Governor's proposal. The Governor recommends no increase or reduction for GTA in 2011. The Governor also recommends increasing transit operating aids by 2 percent in calendar year 2010 and 3 percent in calendar year 2011. This could hurt Ripon in the future, as the amount a city receives is based on a rolling average of the past three years' road repair expenditures. We have been increasing the amount we spend, and, therefore, get back from the state under this program.
Regional Transit Authorities: The Governor recommends authorizing the creation of regional transit authorities in Southeastern Wisconsin, Dane County and Fox Valley. Transit authorities have the power to provide transit services to designated geographical regions. To fund the transit systems, the transit authorities may receive state and federal aid, issue bonds, receive fare box revenues and levy up to a 0.5 percent sales tax within the service region. At this point, I don't see any impact on Ripon from this proposal, although I just love to see another non-elected body implementing a tax on us.
Prevailing Wage Law Changes: The Governor recommends lowering the threshold for public works projects subject to the prevailing wage rate to $2,000 and eliminating the current multiplier, which increases the threshold annually. The Governor also recommends expanding projects covered under the state prevailing wage laws to include "private projects that receive public financing." “Public Financing” is broadly defined to include any grant, loan, insurance or guaranty, or any other arrangement by which a local government provides assistance in any of the following forms: funding, a transfer or lease of real of personal property of the municipality for less than fair market value …” The Governor further recommends requiring a contractor, subcontractor or agent performing work on a project that is subject to the prevailing wage law, other than a state highway project, to submit weekly reports to the contracting municipality or agency authorizing the work. This is opposed by Republicans and Democrats, leading me to wonder who the Governor sold out to on this one....
DOR to Charge TIF Districts Annual Fee: The Governor recommends creating an annual maintenance fee of $150 for each active tax incremental district to fund a portion of the department of revenue's administrative activities related to TIF districts. Keep finding those fee increases, Governor.
Tipping Fee Increase: The Governor recommends increasing the recycling tipping fee on solid waste dumped in landfills by $1 per ton to support continued recycling programs and to provide funding for the University of Wisconsin Bioenergy Center. The Governor also recommends increasing the environmental repair tipping fee by $3.40 per ton to ensure continued funding of environmental quality and remediation programs. Funding for the recycling grant program remains at the same level. More fee increases from Governor Jim "I Don't Raise Taxes" Doyle.
Photographic enforcement of Traffic Lights: The Governor recommends authorizing local governments to use traffic control photographic systems for the purpose of detecting traffic signal violations (i.e., running a red light).
Statewide Smoking Ban: The Governor included a ban on smoking in all places of employment statewide, including taverns and restaurants, effective 60 days after the effective date of the state budget. Another one of those POLICY items, like same-sex marriage, that the Governor insists shoving into a budget. You want a statewide smoking ban? Write it up as a separate bill, so it can debated on its own.

What happens next?
Introduction of the governor's budget bill is merely the first step in the state budget writing process. The Legislature will take several months to review the document and propose its own version. The Joint Committee on Finance will begin its work on the budget in late February or early March. The Committee will likely hold at least a few public hearings on the bill. Chances are that the Democratic controlled legislature will not make many changes to the budget recommended by Governor Doyle. The entire process should be done by July 1, and could be completed sooner.