Capitol Connection

By Senator Joe Leibham

~ Spending Cuts in the State Budget~

Today’s column is part four of a series of updates I have provided on
Governor Jim Doyle’s proposed 2009-11 state budget plan. The focus of
today’s update will be on the proposed funding reductions to state
government services and spending cuts.

The information and figures in this column are based on the
nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s (LFB) analysis of Governor
Doyle’s 2009-11 state budget. The LFB takes great pride in providing
objective, accurate analysis of the budget.

To start, the Governor’s budget proposal contains a one percent across
the board cut to the base budget of all state government agencies and
most non-federal state appropriations. This across the board cut will
reduce state spending by $340 million.

In addition to this across the board cut, following is a partial
listing of additional proposed reductions in state services and other
spending cuts:

· Shared Revenue – Governor Doyle’s budget proposal reduces
shared revenue payments to local cities, towns and villages by
$8,547,000. These payments have traditionally helped local units of
government fund basic services and control property taxes.

· One License Plate – Under current law, Wisconsin requires
motor vehicles to be equipped with two license plates. The Governor’s
proposed budget would change this law and require only one plate. The
amount of money saved from having to produce and distribute only one
license plate for each vehicle would be about $800,000 over the
biennium.

· DNR Service Centers – The Governor’s proposed budget
eliminates walk-in services at DNR’s 24 service centers. Eliminating
this service will reduce state spending by $3.2 million and eliminate
51 positions at the DNR.

· Forward Wisconsin – The proposed budget eliminates Forward
Wisconsin, which is a nonprofit organization that markets Wisconsin to
out-of-state companies to attract new businesses, jobs, and increased
economic activity to the state. Elimination of this program reduces
state spending by $640,000.

· Diesel Truck Idling Program – Governor Doyle proposes to
eliminate the diesel truck idling program, which provides grants to
motor carriers that transport freight for idling reduction units that
provide heat, air conditioning, or electricity to a diesel truck when
the main drive engine of the truck is not operating. Repealing this
grant program will cut spending by about $2 million dollars.

· Welcome Centers – Under current law the Wisconsin Department
of Tourism operates eight welcome centers in the following locations:
Superior, Hurley, Marinette, Kenosha, Beloit, Kieler (Grant County),
La Crosse and Hudson to promote Tourism in Wisconsin. The proposed
budget would close these centers, and reduce spending by about $1
million.

· DMV Centers – Governor Doyle calls for closing 40 DMV service
centers. This will eliminate 11 positions within the Department of
Transportation and save taxpayers $850,000 over the biennium.

· Law Enforcement – The Governor’s proposed budget contains a
$2 million cut to the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), in
addition to the 1% across the board agency cut. The budget specifies
that the $2 million cut within DOJ must come from the State Crime Lab
operations, the Division of Criminal Investigation, the Narcotics
Bureau, and Office of Crime Victim Services.

· Recycling and Hazardous Waste Disposal – Governor Doyle’s
proposed budget eliminates a number of recycling programs that
currently help local units of governments and small businesses develop
and maintain efficient recycling and waste reduction practices.
Eliminating these programs will reduce state spending by $3.8 million.
In addition, the budget also eliminates the Clean Sweep program which
protects Wisconsin’s groundwater by providing grants to local units of
government to safely dispose of environmentally hazardous chemicals,
household cleaners and pharmaceutical drugs. The elimination of this
program will reduce spending by $2.2 million.