MADISON, Wis. — A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum shows that if the legislature wants even the same budget as it passed in 2018, lawmakers are going to have to find millions more.
Jason Stein heads up the research at the nonpartisan organization. His latest report shows potential bad news for the budget the state legislature will write next year.
“There are just so many unknowns right now,” he said.
Going off what the legislature passed last time and adjusting for natural increases in cost, the state will have to make up more than $373 million. The deficit comes after down tax revenues from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Without being melodramatic about it, in some cases we really are talking about peoples’ lives and people’s health and that really underlines the need for some savvy decisions over the next couple months,” Stein said.
These are preliminary projections, but if they stick lawmakers will have to decide among budget cuts, increased taxes, federal Medicaid money or dipping into reserve funds to make up the difference. The last option acts almost as a state savings account, and the report shows it’s in its best shape in a decade at nearly $2 billion.
“We should be thoughtful and targeted about how we try and deploy (the reserves) to make people’s lives better or at least avoid bad outcomes,” Stein said.
Spring Green Senator Howard Marklein, a Republican, made one thing clear in an interview with News 3 Now: nothing is certain.
“I’m not going to speculate on what that looks like,” he said, “again, we’re early in the process.”
The incoming co-chair of the Joint Committee on Finance isn’t saying how the legislature will handle it, though he said he doesn’t want to raise taxes.
One spot for savings he may favor would be blocking state agencies’ requests for more money, and he didn’t shoot down taking federal Medicaid expansion money, approximately $588 million.
“We’re going to be looking at everything,” Marklein said. “Again we’re early in the process, and I’m not going to speculate on what’s on the table when we go into the budget.”
Right now he said he and his colleagues are doing research on the situation, but he made it clear all these numbers are preliminary.
He said a lot can change between now and when legislators hand the budget to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in the summer.
COPYRIGHT 2020 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
