Madison… Senator Joan Ballweg (R-Markesan) and Representative Warren Petryk (R-Town of Washington) authored a bill that provides a more reasonable financial penalty for towns and villages that do not submit their annual statement for general transportation aids on time.

“Our local towns and villages do really well with the tight budgets they have to work with. We should be doing everything we can to support them, not burden them with harsh fines,” said Senator Joan Ballweg. ”There was a case in my district where a computer error, which was no fault of their own, resulted in a $9,000 loss from their transportation aids. That money may not have fixed all of the town’s priorities, but it sure would have helped.”

General transportation aids are payments that go to local governments to cover a share of the cost for road construction, maintenance and traffic operations. In order for these local governments to receive general transportation aid payments, they must submit certain forms to assist in calculating their payment amounts.

“This bill ensures that our local towns won’t be egregiously penalized for making a mistake,” said Representative Warren Petryk. “Most of our towns do not have full-time staff and accidents can happen. But an accident is not a reason to take away a disproportionate amount of money to fix our local roads because of late paperwork. I’m proud that Senator Ballweg and I were able to change that from happening in the future to our rural Towns who do such a great job working for our citizens.”

Previously, the Department of Revenue reduced aids by one percent for each day late, up to a maximum of 10 percent. Under this new law, the penalty will be $100 a day with a cap of $2,200.

This bill is supported by the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, Wisconsin Towns Association and Wisconsin Coordinated Transportation Cooperative.

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