« Fitzgerald Not Willing to Commit to Walker School Aid Increase | Home | Budget News Coverage »
Governor Walker Introduces 2017-19 Budget
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | February 9, 2017
From The Wheeler Report . . .
Governor Walker has introduced his 2017-19 budget. The budget documents are available here:
General Fund Condition Statement
Budget Appropriations by Agency
Revenue Estimates and Economic Assumptions
Wisconsin Works for Everyone Summary
The Governor recommends an operating budget of $37,456,221,100 in FY2017-18 and $38,640,659,500 in FY2018-19, These figures include all four major funding sources and all state agencies and programs. The Governor’s budget recommends a GPR budget of $6,898,732,700 in FY2017-18 and $17,618,618,300 in FY2018-19. The Governor’s budget for FY2017-18 is a spending decrease of 0.8% over the FY2016-17 base, for FY2018-19 it is a spending increase of 4.3% over FY2017-18.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Per Pupil Increase: Provide $648,892,200 over the biennium per pupil aid increase: $197,417,300 in FY2017-18, $451,474,900 in FY2018-19, which includes $10,100,000 in FY2017-18 and $20,200,000 in FY2018-19 be funded with savings from self-insurance health benefits for state employees. Per pupil aid payments will increase from $250 in FY2016-17 to $450 in FY2017-18 and $654 in FY2018-19. School districts will be required to certify they are compliant with 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 to receive the aid, and the aid must go directly to individual school buildings. (The Group Insurance Board voted 10-1 to approve self-insurance)
- Property Taxes: Ends the state-portion of the property tax levy – thereby eliminating one source of ongoing property tax increases. A sum sufficient appropriation will be established to ensure continued funding for forestry programs equal to the amount that the state-levied property tax would have raised.
- Income Taxes: Cuts individual income taxes by reducing the tax imposed on the first $37,450 of taxable income for married-joint filers and the first $28,900 for single filers.
- Income Taxes: Reduce the bottom two tax brackets – the bottom bracket will go from 4% to 3.9%; the next bracket will be reduced from 5.84% to 5.74% and the bracket will be expanded by 25%.
- Transportation Projects: The following projects will NOT be delayed: USH 10/441; I-39/90; USH 18/151 – Verona Road; STH 15.
- Transportation Projects: Provide a total of $121,943,200 in funding for the Southeast Megaprojects program to continue construction and ensure the core of the Zoo Interchange project remains on schedule. Funding of $31 million would also be provided for work on the I-94 North/South project. Everything on the Feb. 2017 TCP that is considered active will move forward, anything that is not active could be delayed.
- Transportation: Authorize $500 million in new bonds for state highways, administrative facilities, harbor improvements and freight rail preservation.
- Shared Services: Implements shared services approach for human resources, procurement and certain information technology functions.
- Self-Insurance: Transition to a self-insured group health model beginning on January 1, 2018, a combined total savings estimated at $60 million
- Wage Increase: Provide funding for expected inflation in fringe benefits costs in each year and funding in FY2018-19 for general wage adjustments of 2 percent on both September 30, 2018 and May 26, 2019 for state employees in the compensation reserve.
- Wage Increase: Provide funding for expected inflation in fringe benefits costs in each year and funding in FY2018-19 for general wage adjustments of 2 percent on both September 30, 2018 and May 26, 2019 for UW System employees.
- Homestead Credit: Restore and strengthen the Homestead Credit to its original intent by providing support to seniors and disabled Wisconsinites. For those age 62 or older who are disabled, the Homestead Credit’s parameters would be indexed to inflation in tax year 2018.
- REINS Act as introduced by Sen. LeMahieu (SB-15) and Rep. Neylon (AB-42).
- Prevailing Wage: Repeal the prevailing wage requirements for state construction projects including those led by DOT and prohibit any unit of government in Wisconsin from either requiring or considering the use or lack of a project labor agreement by a contractor as a condition of bidding on a public works project. Th
- County Veterans Service Office Grant Program: Streamline the grant program by implementing a fixed, block grant model for disbursement of grant funding and requiring a designated county official certify proper use of county veterans service officer annual grant expenditures. In addition, provide $107,800 in FY2017-18 and $143,800 in FY2018-19 for a County Veterans Service Officer liaison position to improve administration and outreach services associated with the program.
- Pay Plan for Judges: Establish a process by which the Director of State Courts can develop a plan for judges and justices, which is submitted directly to JCER for approval, rather than as part of the state compensation plan submitted by DOA to the committee. The pay plan may utilize savings within the Wisconsin Court System from existing appropriations. Provide $334,000 GPR one-time in FY2018-19 to reflect an amount equal to the wage increase provided to other state employees. Nonjudicial staff will continue to be covered under the state compensation plan.
- District Attorneys: Provide additional funding for pay progression of $66,400 GPR in FY2018-19 for deputy and assistant public defenders and $1,066,100 GPR in FY2017-18 and $2,645,300 GPR in FY2018-19 for deputy and assistant district attorneys to increase retention for experienced counsel.
- Public Defenders: Consolidate the Public Defender Board’s GPR appropriations into a single block grant, to allow the board more flexibility in allocating its resources to represent indigent clients. Provide the board with greater flexibility in the creation of new positions, to create a better caseload balance between in-house counsel and private bar attorneys.
- Public Defenders: Provide an additional $3,400,000 GPR in FY2017-18 and $3,400,000 in FY2018-19 to reflect the Public Defender Board’s Private bar obligations.
- DNR: Approve the DNR’s reorganization proposal.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Comments are closed.