Notes from the West Wing
By
State Representative Garey Bies
Budget Action this Week
As you’ve probably heard in local news reports, the State Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance has begun voting on portions of the Governor’s state budget. For this edition of Notes from the West Wing, I thought I would talk a bit about some of the Committee’s action this week.
One of the biggest topics the Finance Committee addressed this week was the property tax increase included in the Democrats’ budget. According to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the proposed increase in the property tax levy will cost Wisconsin taxpayers an addition $1.2 billion. Of course, in the First Assembly District, where residents already feel the pinch of high property taxes, this tax increase would be especially bitter. A motion was brought forward to eliminate the property tax increase and keep the levy at the current rate, but the motion put forth by the Republicans failed on a party line 8-8 vote. To amend the budget in the Finance Committee, the motion must have a majority vote; a tie vote fails to amend the proposal.
Another big tax increase the Finance Committee considered was the “Home Tax.” The Governor in the budget has proposed a 100% increase to the Home Tax. By proposing to double the Home Tax, Democrats are attempting to increase taxes by a total of $142,100,000. What this means for a resident of the First Assembly District is on the sale of a $200,000 home, you have to pay $1,200 to the state. Again, the Republicans tried to amend the budget to eliminate the tax increase, but the motion failed on a party line vote of 8-8.
Lastly, today I want to talk about one of my own motions with which I tried to amend the budget. As many of you know, Door County has an excellent Emergency Medical Services department. The County-based department is a model of efficiency for the state, despite the difficult geographic challenges faced in Door County. Well, in the state budget, there is a provision to allow municipalities, under certain circumstances, to exceed the levy limit for charges associated with joint fire departments. I had brought forth a motion to allow for this provision to also apply to joint EMS departments. Unfortunately the Finance Committee did not entertain any motions pertaining to this particular budget provision. I was disappointed by this decision, but I am not deterred. I will have the opportunity to amend the budget directly rather than through the Finance Committee once the Committee has completed its work and the budget is then taken up by the Assembly and Senate. I believe a county EMS department is the perfect example of efficiency and cooperation and that the state should be encouraging this type of joint service and I will be working to amend the budget to allow this provision to apply to the Door County EMS department.
There is still a long ways to go in the budget process. I welcome and encourage residents of the First Assembly District to contact me with your thoughts and concerns with this important proposal and process. I can be reached by e-mail at Rep.Bies@legis.wisconsin.gov or by telephone, toll-free at 1-888-482-0001. You can also visit my website at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm01/news/.