For the Tomahawk Leader
WISCONSIN – Wisconsin municipalities will see an increase in state funding following Governor Tony Evers’ signing of bipartisan legislation relating to shared revenue.
Evers was joined in Wausau on Tuesday, June 20 by Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) Secretary Peter Barca, State Senator Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk), State Senator LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) and Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg, as well as other legislators, local elected officials and stakeholders as he signed Assembly Bill 245, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 12, which provides a “historic increase in support to local communities statewide and ensures the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County do not face an imminent fiscal cliff.”
Earlier this month, Evers announced he, Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) reached a tentative compromise regarding shared revenue, contingent upon several provisions, including a “historic investment in K-12 schools and education.”
Among the provisions included in a separate bill signed by Evers, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 11, are a more than $1 billion investment in spendable revenue for K-12 education and a per pupil aid increase for choice and independent charter schools.
“Evers and Republican leaders negotiated to reach a compromise on shared revenue that includes at least a 20% increase in support to most municipalities statewide,” the release stated.
According to the release, the compromise also contained provisions ensuring the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County are “enabled with the tools, flexibility and resources to avoid insolvency, including requiring a two-thirds vote by the City of Milwaukee Common Council and the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors to implement a local sales tax of 2% for the city of Milwaukee and 0.4% for Milwaukee County.”
The ultimate agreement reached by Evers, Majority Leader LeMahieu and Speaker Vos “represents a generational increase in the state’s commitment to local communities, and it ties local government funding to the state sales tax going forward, allowing for growth in the future,” the release said.
A full breakdown of additional funding communities will receive under AB 245 is available at www.tinyurl.com/ccuw5hz9.
“To me, the issue of shared revenue has always been about doing the right thing for Wisconsin,” Evers stated in the release. “I began working on this when I took office four years ago, and that effort began for me with this simple truth: that for far too long, our local communities have been expected to do more with less. Local partners for years have had to make impossible decisions, forced to choose between paying for first responders, addressing PFAS, fixing the roads and other critical priorities that affect the health, safety and well-being of folks across our state.”
Felzkowski, who cosponsored the bill, said it is a “generational piece of legislation that ensures communities throughout the Northwoods will be able to provide the services that are required and expected of them under state law, such as police, fire, EMS and roads, without drastically raising your property taxes.”
“One of the most prevalent challenges I hear about in northern Wisconsin is the inability for local communities to provide EMS services,” Felzkowski stated in a release. “Under today’s inflation, costs continue to rise and volunteers are hard to come by. There is absolutely no reason why an ambulance shouldn’t show up when you call 911, and this historic bill will go a long way towards ensuring that one does.”
Felzkowski called the bill “one of the most influential pieces of legislation passed in the last decade,” saying it is “the product of extraordinary bipartisan efforts.”
“The people of Wisconsin elect their legislators with the expectation that they’ll go to Madison and get things done for the entire state,” Felzkowski said. “This bill is a true testament to the ability of lawmakers to put politics aside and work across the aisle. I will always work with anyone who’s willing to come to the table to help, and I’m extremely grateful that the Governor chose to do so.” “I’ve always said much of the hard work that happens in our state happens at the local level,” Evers stated. “Whether it’s providing essential services like EMS, police and fire, repairing streets, expanding affordable housing, ensuring kids and families have safe, clean parks, addressing water quality issues like PFAS or supporting local libraries and public health, today means so many of our local partners will finally be able to make ends meet. To leave our state with a legacy of prosperity, we must fulfill our obligation to fund our communities—the future of our state, our economy, and our workforce depend upon it.”
