The Wisconsin State Capitol dome in Madison. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — Work continues on Wisconsin’s next two-year budget, but there’s concerns over delays within the Joint Finance Committee.
Republican State Senator Eric Wimberger, a member of the legislative committee tasked with presenting its own budget for the legislature to vote on, recognizes they’re operating on a slight delay.
“I would say at this point, we’re like a week behind,” said Wimberger, R-Oconto.
Wimberger says the Joint Finance Committee didn’t get final budget and revenue numbers from the Fiscal Bureau until last week. Right now, Wimberger says they’re working to ensure they have a budget by June 30.
“Talking to my colleagues, I know that’s our intent in the legislature, to do a budget on time,” said Wimberger. “But obviously, politics is politics. The governor has expressed that too, so it’s a just matter of coming to an agreement of some kind.”
Fellow State Senator Jamie Wall, a Democrat, hopes that’s the case.
“They’re not so late they couldn’t still pull it off, if they burn some midnight oil. If we go on for a couple more weeks, that’s not a great sign,” said Wall, D-Green Bay.
The next two-year budget cycle begins July 1. If a new budget isn’t passed and signed into law by then, state agencies would operate at their current funding levels until a new budget is put in place.
“The bulk of the budget, you know, we’re talking about 90-95% of it at least, will continue on after that 30th of June deadline,” said Wimberger.
Wall says if the budget is delayed, he’d be concerned over what it would mean for school districts trying to plan for the upcoming school year.
“We’re going to begin to fail our school districts, in particular, if we go on too long and not give them the certainty they need to make their own budgeting decisions for the start of the academic year in the fall,” Wall said.
Wimberger says the State Supreme Court’s recent ruling allowing Governor Tony Evers to lock in a school funding increase for 400 years through a line item veto makes the budget process and negotiations more challenging.
“How we budget has just significantly changed now, and there’s just uncertainty about how we’re going to do this,” said Wimberger.
A statement from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos reads:
Leaders of the Assembly and Senate had productive budget talks this week with Governor Evers and we hope to complete the budget on time.
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