The one and only thing state legislators absolutely, positively have to do every two years is pass a state budget. The job is supposed to be done by July 1. Wisconsin is now the only state in the country with a July 1 budget deadline that does not have a new budget in place.
Both houses of the Legislature passed differing versions of the budget in late July,and legislative leaders have been involved in a highly partisan staredown ever since.
It's been said there is little if any real damage caused if state lawmakers are late in finishing work on a new state budget.
Tell that to the college students who don't know if they will receive any student aid. Tell it to the schools, towns, villages and cities that have to set their property tax levies and still do not know how much state aid to expect and therefore are clueless about how much of their costs they will have to ask property taxpayers to foot.
If the budget stalemate continues for just a few more days, homeowners and businesses in Wisconsin face a $600 million increase in their property taxes. If that happens, try telling your average property owner that it doesn't matter when the Legislature passes a state budget.
If the budget impasse is not resolved soon, it will affect the state's bond rating, and Wisconsin will pay more to borrow money for government projects than would otherwise be necessary.
The cost of political paralysis at the Capitol doesn't stop there. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has calculated how much taxpayer money has been wasted because of the state budget stalemate that has left the Legislature paralyzed and incapable of doing any meaningful work on other pressing issues.
It's cost us $17.2 million for the Legislature to accomplish nothing since its deadline for completing work on the budget came and went.
That's over $188,000 a day that's been blown on salaries, fringe benefits and other costs to operate the Legislature while lawmakers have failed to do a job they were supposed to complete by July 1.
The Legislature's failure to agree on a budget also comes at the expense of dozens of other legislative proposals that have been idling. One legislative veteran says the Assembly has only been in session 14 days this year.
At the same time, plenty of fundraising has been getting done. Legislative leaders on the conference committee as well as rank and file lawmakers have been holding fundraisers in bulk during the months-long budget delay to milk special interests with a stake in the two-year policy and spending proposal.
They are making Wisconsin a laughing stock. They are embarrassing us. And even if they can't see it, they are embarrassing themselves.
Mike McCabe is executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan watchdog group that tracks the money in state politics, fights government corruption and works for campaign finance reform and other pro-democracy reforms. For additional information, visit www.wisdc.org.
4 Comments
With a structural deficit of over 1 Billion dollars and a proposed tax increase that would be the largest in the history of our Federal Republic we are already the laughing stock of the nation.
Freinds and collegues in other states who pay 1/2 or less in property taxes and receive the same or better services laugh at me all the time while asking how I can put up with the socialists in Wisconsin state and local governments.
I hear about the brain drain of new college graduates with no mention of the corelation of that statistic to the extremely high taxes and the lack of businesses relocation or expantion in our state.
The fact is "ITS THE SPENDING STUPID!" and only one party has any committment to control it.
If the lack of a budget keeps the state out of our pockets and gets mainstream Wisconsinites to look at spending as the problem, more power to the legeslature.
Every household, business and other entity, including the single government exception of Milwaukee County, has learned to do more with less, lets demand that state government join the real world and become responsible with our money.
TJJ
Mike,
I hate to break it to you but there are very few people in the United States who think about Wisconsin's budget. We are hardly a laughing stock because of this. Frankly both inside and outside of Wisconsin everyone's life is going on pretty much like usual.
I don't feel embarrassed about the whole budget, and neither should you. Passing a stupid budget compromise is more dangerous than not passing one at all. Live and let live, man.
Are we really spending $188,000 per day more today than the state would spend if the budget were passed? Once the budget passes will this $188,000 per day in waste go away? What state workers are going home with no work to do after the budget passes? After the budget passes, the workers won't have to come in and we wont have to pay them?
If you are really a watchdog group, perhaps you'd be able to point out this waste more specifically. The reason I do not think this particular waste is occurring is that no government worker complains that they will lose their job or have their hours and pay cut after the budget passes.
I'm sure there's plenty of waste to cut, but your selective indignation over this particular "waste" seems, let's say, partisan.
I see that your group fights government corruption,works for campaign finance reform and other pro democracy reforms. Did you know the state representative for Muskego does not even live in the district? Could you help me fight that?
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Rocks! Keep on rockin' in the free world, Mike.
Mike needs to work on his math. $180,000 a day expense for a non-budget producing, non-tax increasing legislature is a bargain! What does $1.6 billion in new taxes come out to per day? About $4,384,000. Typical liberal math from a "non-partisan".
As to the rest of the country- Everyone I know that is familiar with Wisconsin taxes (a lot of people that have left the state) thinks we are crazy for putting up with them.
The less government does, the better. The legal stranglehold is getting tight.