MADISON, Wis. (WXPR) — A Northwoods Republican has found support for an effort to make sure cuts in the state transportation budget aren’t made on the backs of rural Wisconsin residents.
Mary Czaja of Irma says a plan to keep road projects in southeastern Wisconsin safe from budget cuts won’t fly in the Assembly. The administration wants to protect the Zoo Interchange project in Milwaukee while cutting elsewhere. The state is proposing to borrow $1.3 billion for transportation over the next two years. To pay for it, cuts are proposed.
Czaja got more than 30 legislators to sign on to a letter to the Governor opposing the measure. “The rest of the legislators in the rest of the state understand the importance of our road systems and our infrastructure.” Czaja is a member of the budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance and says Madison needs to take a hard look at that funding.
Czaja says simply cutting elsewhere to pay for the Zoo Interchange isn’t fair. “As those cuts are made they have to be proportionately cut across the state and not hold southeastern Wisconsin harmless and then have the rest of the state take the hits on their roads and infrastructure.”
She says tough negotiations are going on concerning transportation, prevailing wage and the Milwaukee Bucks arena.