Madison, WI – On Wednesday, Senator Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) was successful in ushering her shared revenue bill – AB 245 – through the Senate, receiving a 21-12 bipartisan vote of approval. This comes on the heels of a Tuesday Joint Finance Committee session that saw historic investments in education and rural roads.
The shared revenue bill is a generational piece of legislation that revamps the way we fund local governments; incentivizes local innovation through efficiencies; repeals the Personal Property Tax; ensures our law enforcement, EMS, and fire fighters aren’t defunded; limits the amount of time unelected local health department officials can shut down businesses and places of worship without a vote of their governing body; gives Milwaukee the tools to address their unfunded pension liabilities; puts guard rails on the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County to ensure they don’t end up back in this same financial situation; and much more.
“Our local governments have had their shared revenue frozen and decreased for decades, forcing them to cut fat out of their budgets. Most of them have done a phenomenal job doing just that, and now they’re being rewarded for it. This bill presents an opportunity to work across the aisle and get a ton of good, bipartisan work done for the people of Wisconsin. The best part about all of this, is that we were able to achieve everything in this bill without raising your taxes a single penny.”
The shared revenue bill was wrapped into an agreed upon package with the Governor that also included historic funding in education. Sen. Felzkowski and her Joint Finance Committee colleagues addressed these education increases, as well as crucial rural road funding investments in a JFC hearing on Tuesday night.
The Committee voted in favor of education motions that maintain two-thirds funding for public schools, with more than $1 billion in new spendable resources; invest $50 million in literacy programs and $30 million in mental health; provide 33.3% of special education and 45% of high cost special education; expand choice and charter school funding by $280 million; and increase payments for sparsity aid and high cost transportation, which is vital for our district.
The Committee also approved transportation motions that invest an additional $1.55 billion, including $362 million in local roads and bridges, $386 million in state highways, and $150 million in a new Ag Road Improvement Program (ARIP) that will provide funding to upgrade local roads and bridges, which are the critical link between farmers, their fields, processing facilities, and the businesses that provide essential feed and supplies – which includes the forestry industry.
“Overall, we’ve had two extremely successful and historic days for northern Wisconsin, and the state as a whole. We’ve all been sent to Madison with the purpose of working together to find solutions that benefit our entire state – and the past couple of days prove that it can be done. I look forward to the Governor signing shared revenue into law, and following it up with a signature on the budget bill, when that process is complete.”
