Wisconsin’s candidates for governor are trading barbs, over new budget projections.
According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state is headed toward a shortfall of $1.8 billion in its next budget. The amount is triple of what was forecast in May.
Democrat Mary Burke is accusing Gov. Walker of being fiscally irresponsible. Walker’s camp is criticizing Burke for being satisfied with a similar deficit, when she served under former Gov. Jim Doyle.
There are several options the state could exercise.
Dale Knapp expected a deficit, but not nearly $2 billion. Knapp is research director for the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. He says state leaders should have exercised more restraint this year, when a surplus was predicted - of $1 billion. They returned nearly half, to taxpayers.
“One of the things we know from past history is when you get these surprise revenues, you don’t necessarily spend it all because it comes back to haunt you because a lot of times these projections aren’t fully fulfilled,” Knapp says.
Knapp notes, that the $2 billion figure forecast this week, is also a projection. He says the numbers might change, depending on how the economy moves.
“There’s not a need to panic, but I think there’s some serious need for caution. I think they’ll have to do is, look on the spending side, are there places they can save some money, that they can under-spend what was budgeted to minimize what this number ultimately ends up being,” Knapp says.
What state leaders frequently do when a budget is out of sync, is pass a repair bill. Knapp says Wisconsin may need one in spring, because he doesn’t foresee the U.S. economy and state tax collections growing.
“And the reason I say that is, the typical economic expansion only lasts five or six years and we’re well past that at this point,” Knapp says.
The shortfall in Wisconsin’s current budget is $400 million, one of the smallest in years.
