April 27, 2001 e-newsletter
Alliance Works to Fix
Budget
Local Government-Friendly Budget is Goal
| A delegation of Alliance members met April 17 with key legislators, a
representative of Gov. Scott McCallum and staff members of the Legislative Reference
Bureau and Legislative Fiscal Bureau in an effort to fix problems with the 2001-2003 state
budget bill.
Green Bay Mayor Paul Jadin, Alliance president; Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian; Whitewater City Manager Gary Boden; and staff from the cities of Madison and Milwaukee and the Alliance attended. There was a dialog around the problems as essentially being:
|
|
The group will look at short-term problems "fixable" in this budget and
long-term problems that need additional discussion, but could be authorized for study in
this budget. We've been asked to provide specific direction as to who should study the
problem and make recommendations for solutions to long-term problems.
Please contact Ed if you have questions or comments by clicking here.
Alliance Stakes Out Shared Revenue,
Transportation, Other Budget Positions
Meeting in Fond du Lac April 6, Alliance of Cities members agreed to seek a 2.5% increase in state shared revenue payments in 2002, and another 2.5% increase in 2003 as the state charts a transition from the current shared revenue formula to another equalizing mechanism. The increases of 2.5% a year were chosen because that's the rate of increase in general purpose revenue spending in the state budget bill.
The shared revenue formula would be frozen before the increases were applied, resulting in more money for every municipality in the state, without the winners and losers that running the formula would entail.
Members recommended that we lobby this issue together with AFSCME, and use the Alliance's educational arm, Wisconsin Sustainable Cities Inc., to research alternatives.
Sales Tax / Growth Sharing
Members also endorsed providing for growth in municipal aids by earmarking the percentage of sales tax represented by the current $142 million per-capita payment for distribution on a regional basis in the future.
The plan envisions a hold harmless amounting to each municipality's current per-capita distribution, so no one would get less than if the current per-capita distribution were to continue.
Transportation Aids
On transportation, members voted to recommend that the general transportation aid formula be frozen in both years of the biennium, and that each municipality's aids be increased 2.9% in fiscal year 2002-03, and 4.5% in fiscal year 2003-04, consistent with the increase contained in the state budget bill for the state highway program. The funding would be a bridge to a new transportation aids formula that better reflects lane miles traveled and local need.
On a calendar year basis (which is how general transportation aid payments are made), the above percentages translate into an icnrease of 5.8% in 2002 and an increase of 3.3% in 2003. That means everyone would get an increase over their 2001 payment of 5.8% in 2002. Then they would get another 3.3% in 2003.
Alliance, Counties, Local Officials
Tell of Lack of Partnership in Budget
Gail and Rich, accompanied by a representative of the Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA) and joined by members of the Alliance, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities and WCA, made a whirlwind tour of the state to alert media to local government's problems in the state budget bill.
We timed our visits to newspaper reporters and editorial boards to come prior to the Joint Finance Committee's hearings in a given area. Our basic message across the state was that the budget bill does not respect the state-local partnership.
We said we wholeheartedly embrace the Kettl Commission's principles that
citizens must be at the center of everything government does, that citizens deserve the
most efficient, cost-effective government that money can buy, and that local governments
need maximum flexibility in fulfilling statewide goals.
We also explained that a key commission conclusion was that citizens deserve to pay
roughly the same amount for local government services whether they live in a community
with a huge property tax base or in a community with a tiny one -- the principle of
equalization.
Then we explained how the budget bill falls short of honoring those principles or specific
Kettl Commission recommendations in six areas: county and municipal shared revenue and
growth sharing; transportation; youth aids; community aids; recycling and the state court
system. (Our concerns were noted by the Assembly Select Committee on State-Local Finance,
which recommended April 26 that the shared revenue changes be stripped from the budget.
See the letter here.)
The issues we discussed were the six budget issues that Partners in Local Government agreed to lobby together. (To see the issues and learn more about Partners in Local Government, click here.)
Rich, Gail and the WCA's Mark O'Connell started in Eau Claire, where City Manager Don Norrell and Bloomer Mayor Randy Summerfeld joined us at the Leader-Telegram. The next day, in Superior, Douglas County Board Chair Doug Finn joined us to provide a story to the Daily Telegram. Then we crossed over to Duluth to discuss Kettl Commission issues with News-Tribune opinion editor Pia Lopez. From there we drove to Wausau, where Rhinelander Mayor Mary Kinnunen joined us to meet with Daily Herald opinion editor Tom Berger.
An extra dividend: we discussed budget and Kettl Commission issues with the new Central Wisconsin Mayors and Village Presidents group, at a meeting hosted by Wausau Mayor Linda Lawrence.
The following week we headed to La Crosse armed with Legislative Fiscal Bureau projections showing just the kind of shared-revenue redistribution we had predicted. We were joined at the LaCrosse Tribune by Mayor John Medinger, La Crosse County Board chair James Ehrsam and other officials. From there we drove to Marshfield where Mayor Chris Jockheck joined us at the News-Herald.
The next day Marinette Mayor Doug Oitzinger, along with Peshtigo City Council President John Anderson and officials from Marinette and Oconto counties met Gail, Rich and WCA's Craig Thompson at the EagleHerald. In Green Bay that afternoon, Mayor Paul Jadin, Ashwaubenon Village President Ted Pamperin and County Executive Nancy Nussbaum joined us at the Press-Gazette to meet with opinion editor Mike Blecha and the editorial board, and at the News-Chronicle with several reporters and editors.
Our final newspaper visit was to the Wisconsin State Journal, where Rich, Mark and Craig met with Associate Editor Tom Still.
Public TV commentator Jeff Mayers, state government watchdog and publisher of wispolitics.com, noticed the media response.
"The Joint Finance Committee isn't the only one touring the state," he wrote in his subscribers-only WisPolitics Report April 6. "A team from the Alliance of Cities, with the help of local government officials, has been making a consistent splash in out-state media with a well-coordinated editorial board tour...
"...Increases in shared revenue payments aren't likely to happen in this tight budget, but the tour could pay dividends down the road."
Alliance Wades Into Wetlands Controversy
By Rich Eggleston
As Ed explained on the Larry Meiller program on Wisconsin Public Radio the other day, wetlands weren't on our radar screen at the beginning of this year. Then, on January 9, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers had over-extended its regulatory reach under the Clean Water Act, and couldn't legally regulate small, isolated wetlands.
We quickly learned that the ruling -- a victory for communities in Cook County, Illinois -- took a big chunk out of the regulatory powers of the state Department of Natural Resources because the DNR had no regulatory authority of its own over small, isolated wetlands. DNR wanted its authority back, and maybe more to boot.
We also learned that the DNR has been ignoring public health and safety and the legitimate home-rule interests of local government in a singleminded effort to "protect" every square inch of wetland in Wisconsin. Our thanks to all the cities that shared with us the horror stories of their dealings with DNR.
In Beaver Dam, the DNR blocked efforts to extend a street to a city park and provide children with a safe bicycling route to the park. The amount of wetlands at stake: two-tenths of an acre. That puddle is much more important than the safety of children, the DNR concluded. "Bike to the park at your own risk, kids," the Wisconsin State Journal warned in an editorial that urged a cooperative approach to wetlands management in contrast to the authoritarian model the DNR prefers.
Elsewhere, the DNR's stance on wetlands has prevented communities from undertaking water quality improvements. And inconsistent regulation has confounded local officials, stymied economic development and promoted sprawl.
After bitter political infighting, the Legislature crafted a "compromise" that does nothing to reduce DNR's ability to be arbitrary and capricious. Ed testified for information only on the bill, AB 322, saying it may be only a marginal improvement over current law.
For a vision of the kind of wetlands regulation we might enjoy if this were Camelot, or even Minnesota, see the State Journal editorial by clicking here.
Bills We're Watching
For the complete list of bills we're lobbying, go here. Highlights:
SB 55 / AB 144, the state budget bill. The Joint Finance Committee began executive action on the budget April 23 by pruning 150 non-budget policy items from the budget. The committee's actions occur as the administration and the Legislature brace themselves for bleak revenue forecasts and higher spending projections that could add up to $500 million to potential budget deficits.
AB 113,
the residency bill sponsored by Rep. Scott Gunderson (R-Union Grove).
It was endorsed 3-2 on April 18 by Gunderson's Urban and Local Affairs Committee and sent
to the Assembly Rules Committee. That committee is responsible for scheduling the bill for
the The bill would apply to department heads as well as
nonelected employees and job applicants. It would allow communities to require that police
officers and firefighters live no further than 15 miles from their borders.
Our position on the bill: 
AB 161, sponsored by Rep. Lee Meyerhofer (D-Kaukauna), was introduced
March 1. It would exempt cities, villages, towns, counties, school and technical college
districts and UW schools from paying the state gasoline tax. It has 56 co-sponsors in the
two houses, including the entire membership of the Senate Transportation Committee. Other
gas-tax exemption bills are circulating for co-sponsorship and may be introduced soon. Our
position on the bill: 
AB 37 brings predictability to mass transit operating assistance in Wisconsin. Signed by Gov.
Scott McCallum April 24. It is 2001 Wisconsin Act 4. An effort to address transit funding
uncertainties last session did the opposite. The result last session: an $85,000 decline
in funding for Wausau, a loss of nearly $32,000 in Fond du Lac, etc., threatening service
cutbacks and discouraging service improvements.Our position:
AB 58 and SB 29,
allowing low-speed vehicles on streets and highways with a speed limit of 35 mph or less.
AB 58 passed the Assembly 93-4 March 8 and was sent to the Senate. Alliance members voted
to oppose last session's version of the bill on public safety grounds. Our position:
AB 262, by
Rep. Stephen Freese (R-Dodgeville), to compensate municipalities, counties and school
districts for revenue lost due to the immediate phase-in of use-value assessment. The
total aid over the next six years would be $124.4 million. Our position:
AB 277 and SB 123, historic preservation bills.
AB 335,
the property tax due-date extension bill. Our reaction:
May 1 Partners in Local Govt, 9
a.m. Heinemann's Too, 1. S. Pinckney
May 2 Transit Lobby Day at Capitol contact Gary Goyke
May 3 Regional Lobbying /
Manitowoc, Two Rivers, Sheboygan
May 10 Milwaukee area Regional Lobbying
May 31 Alliance-League legislative
luncheon
May
31 Alliance
finance directors and board
June
1 Alliance general membership meeting
|
|
 (coming eventually) |
THE WISCONSIN ALLIANCE OF CITIES
14 West Mifflin Street Suite 206
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
(608) 257-5881
Edward
J. Huck |
Gail
E. Sumi |
Richard
A. Eggleston |
|
