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WisPolitics Coverage of Nygren Budget Presentation
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | August 26, 2020
From WisPolitics.com . . .
Joint Finance Committee Co-Chair Rep. John Nygren says the state is in a better financial position than he originally thought when the COVID-19 economic crisis began due in part to “some strong” corporate and sales tax revenues.
But the Marinette Republcian warned at a Badger Institute virtual event yesterday “some tough decisions are ahead of us” as federal, state and local governments reel with simultaneously higher expenses and diminished tax revenue.
“If we don’t make our reductions in this second year of the budget, even though we are in a better position than we originally thought, the full impact is going to roll into the next budget,” he said.
Nygren criticized Gov. Tony Evers for not reducing state spending more. He said Evers’ previous announcement that he would cut 5 percent of executive spending was “actually only about 1 percent.”
Agencies earlier this summer trimmed $70 million to address anticipated shortfalls amid the pandmeic. The UW System accounted for about $41 million of the earlier cuts.
The guv has since said he would cut another $250 million from state agencies, though details have yet to be released. Nygren said he would be “waiting to see where that plays out.”
The cuts could mean a budget repair bill this session wouldn’t be necessary, according to Nygren. But he added a budget repair measure “might be a good thing” anyways, and that the full scale of the fiscal crisis won’t be known until state revenue numbers are revealed.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau told WisPolitics.com it’s slated to release FY 2019-20 collections data sometime later this week or next week.
Nygren said he isn’t looking forward to “having that conversation” about a potential budget repair bill, since he said there hasn’t been a need for such a measure since he became JFC co-chair in 2013.
“However, what I guess I’ve been trying to get across to anybody that’s listening is decisions made today … will make the 2021-23 budget conversations much easier, less painful and I think those conversations should be had,” he said.
An Evers administration spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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