Proposed spending would bring General Fund balance to dangerously low level |
Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed budget for the biennium that starts in July increases spending by more than $3 billion a year over current levels. That increased spending would be funded in part by increased revenues — about $4.6 billion in higher tax revenue over the two-year period — but also by using up $3.6 billion of Wisconsin’s General Fund balance.
Evers’ proposal would reduce the General Fund balance to an amount equal to only 2 percent of annual General Fund state spending — well below the 16 percent that experts in state finance recommend, and far below the 18 percent projected for the end of the current fiscal year. |
Amid soaring costs, city’s cooperation crucial to fitting in enough houses to beat $525,000 price point |
Before Mike Howe came to the City of Manitowoc with his idea for the Preserve at Lincoln Park, the last subdivision built in the city a dozen years ago nearly bankrupted its developer.
Today, the 13th of what will eventually be 33 Preserve at Lincoln Park homes is currently under construction in a subdivision unlike any other in Manitowoc. The homes are a little smaller, tighter together and configured on smaller lots to keep the prices mostly under $525,000.
And both Howe and Adam Tegen, the city’s community development director, agree the residential development could not have been built without cooperation unusual for local government. “This is what good public-private partnership looks like,” Howe says. “I’ve got 10 years of learning to know how to do this. People don’t understand how difficult it is. But the city let me be creative.” |
As its roundabout construction has tapered off in recent years, Wisconsin has dropped to seventh place among states for the number of the no-stopping circular intersections, at 602.
Wisconsin’s annual roundabout construction rate peaked in 2011, when a total of 51 roundabouts were built, figures provided by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation show. Wisconsin built 29 in 2023, and just 13 in 2024. Of Wisconsin’s roundabouts, 290 are on local roads and 312 are on state highways. |
The Wisconsin State Assembly on Tuesday passed AB 165, a bill prohibiting any city, village, town or county from expending taxpayer dollars for the purpose of making payments to individuals under a guaranteed income program. The Badger Institute is registered in support of the bill and its Senate companion, SB 202. |
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Results from the nation’s most comprehensive experiment in offering people a guaranteed basic income offer a warning to those places — including some Wisconsin cities — dabbling with the idea: Unconditional cash payments did nothing to permanently lift participants out of poverty and dependency. |
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