(WTAQ-WLUK) — With lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers reaching an agreement to increase state funding to municipalities across Wisconsin, many local leaders are excited for the first major change in shared revenue in almost 30 years.
Both sides are calling it transformative for the state’s communities.
“This compromise will be transformative for our communities and our state,” said Evers, “and coming to an agreement in principle on major parts of this proposal is a significant milestone in my negotiations with Republican leaders over the past few months.”
It’s also the culmination of work local leaders put into discussions with lawmakers about the struggles they’ve been facing during that time.
June 8, 2023 will be a day that mayors, city managers and other leaders remember as a major turning point for local governments.
“This is the most progress I’ve seen in my 32 years of service in Wisconsin,” said Oshkosh City Manager Mark Rohloff. “This is so changing for us.”
Rohloff has been asking for state aid for years to help fund critical services like fire, police and public works.
“The lions’ share of our costs are those very programs that this shared revenue reform bill is really designed to benefit,” explained Rohloff. “So, this will have our ability to absorb the increases that we’ve had.”
Public safety departments have even had to be trimmed back in cities across the state due to the rising cost of inflation over the years.
“It’ll mean we’re able to get to some capital needs in police and fire that’ve long been delayed. And it’ll help us preserve our services and programs that people rely on every day,” said Appleton Mayor Jake Woodford.
Appleton will receive at least a 20% increase in aid — as will all other municipalities with populations under 110,000.
“We all have to work together,” said Kaukauna Mayor Tony Penterman. “People need to come from a village or a town to come into the city of Kaukauna, and we’re hoping that their roads are just as good as ours. And those small towns and villages don’t have a budget like a city does.”
Penterman says the impact public safety plays can’t be understated. In many communities, other programs were affected as a result.
“We were borrowing to maintain our infrastructure,” said Woodford. “We’ll be able to get to some of those projects a little bit quicker.”
Woodford says the agreement isn’t a final solution, but it’s a move that will go a long way to ensuring communities save significant amounts of money.
“The city of Kaukauna’s looking at getting about $450,000,” said Penterman. “It’s tough for municipalities to balance budgets when the city of Kaukauna’s police and fire eats up about 39-40% of the budget.”
It also will allow for governments to be closely linked to their sales tax.
“So, over time, as the economy grows or when the economy contracts, local governments are more closely connected with that broader economy,” explained Woodford.
The shared revenue model doesn’t require any additional taxes to be collected. Instead, the program will draw from income and sales taxes collected by the state.
“This legislation fixes disparities caused by the old shared revenue formula,” said State Rep. Eric Wimberger, R-30th District. “It will ensure every Wisconsin municipality, both large and small, has the resources to fund critical services including police, fire and EMS.”
The agreement is a positive look into the future for many local leaders.
“We’re grateful to the work of legislative leaders and the governor, coming together listening to needs of communities like Appleton and working together to come up with a solution,” said Woodford.
“I appreciate the efforts,” said Rohloff, “and this is a incredible step forward in an historic day for funding local government in Wisconsin.”
The agreement also includes a $1 billion increase for funding for K-12 school districts in the state. That’s equal to $325 per pupil for each of the next two years.
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