State Assembly Approves Its Version of Budget
(7/12/2007)

MADISON – On a party line vote of 51-44, the Republican-run State Assembly passed a budget on July 10 that substantially diverges from the version passed on June 26 by the Democrat-led Senate in almost every area of spending. Those differences must now be reconciled by a conference committee consisting of eight legislative leaders – four Republicans and four Democrats.

Among the items approved in the State Assembly’s budget were the following:

A $58 million cut in the amount of aid the state distributes to local governments to pay for core services like police and fire, otherwise known as shared revenue. Both Governor Doyle and the Senate had proposed increasing this aid.

A property tax freeze that would limit the ability of local governments to increase their budgets unless they have new construction growth in their communities. This property tax freeze, in conjunction with the cut in shared revenue aid, would likely result in officer layoffs or vacant positions left unfilled. This would not only impair public safety, but officer safety as well.

The elimination of funding to pay for the tuition remission benefits for military veterans and their families. The Senate budget had fully-funded this invaluable veterans benefit.

The elimination of a provision allowing municipal police officers and fire fighters to arbitrate their discipline. Governor Doyle and the Senate had proposed this provision, placing police officers and fire firefighters on the same playing field as every other class of public employees.

A 50% reduction in the law enforcement officer supplement grant program. The program provides grants to cities to employ additional law enforcement officers whose primary duty is beat patrolling.

A prohibition that any final contract offer submitted to the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) for interest arbitration cannot require the employer to pay more for employee compensation and benefits than that provided by any applicable property tax freeze. In other words, if the Republican property tax freeze were in place (which limits a local government’s ability to increase its budget by more than that community’s growth in terms of new construction), and your community has not experienced an increase in new construction, then your local association would not be able to submit a final offer that included an employee wage and benefit package that exceeds zero-percent.

A requirement that every new town, village, city, and county employee must pay the first three percent of their earnings toward their pension. Current law permits the employer and employees to negotiate for the employer to pay all or part of the employee required contributions. These benefits have historically been bargained at the local level, and the Assembly budget would eliminate the ability to negotiate these arrangements in the future.

In the meantime, the Assembly budget cuts taxes on cigarettes and big oil companies, and includes a wide variety of special-interest favors, like tax breaks for people who buy gold bullion.

Flanked by law enforcement officers and fire fighters at a July 11 press conference, Governor Doyle characterized the Assembly budget as an “extreme and irresponsible” document that would hamper the ability of police and fire to effectively maintain public safety services.

At present, the WPPA is diligently working to inform lawmakers of the budget’s impact on our membership, and all WPPA members are encouraged to respectfully let their legislators know that this budget is harmful and cruel. Anyone with questions or comments can contact WPPA Assistant Executive Director Jim Palmer, either by telephone at 800.362.8838, or by e-mail at palmer@wppa.com.