Madison, Wis: Today, Representative Ann Roe (D–Janesville) joined fellow Wisconsin Legislative Democrats in introducing a comprehensive package of bills designed to strengthen local governments across the state by providing additional funding, greater financial flexibility, and expanded tools for municipalities.
“Strengthening local communities is not a partisan or geographic issue,” said Rep. Roe during a press conference announcing the package. “I’ve met with every town board and municipal leader in my district to discuss the challenges they face as they work to serve and grow their communities.”
Over the past several months, Rep. Roe has hosted city managers, mayors, and local leadership from the communities of Janesville, Bayside, Whitewater, Waukesha, and Wauwatosa in the Capitol who informed legislators of the local funding needs across our state.
Rep. Roe authored legislation to address the inadequacies in Wisconsin’s shared revenue formula. Shared revenue is a vital state program that returns funds to local governments, helping them provide essential services such as public safety, infrastructure, and transportation but for communities like Janesville shared revenue has not kept up.
“The shared revenue bill passed last session was an important start,” Rep. Roe noted, “but it left many communities—like Janesville—even further behind. That bill from last session simply cannot be the end of the conversation—we have work to do.”
Under Rep. Roe’s proposal, communities with populations over 50,000 (as of 2022) would receive additional supplemental aid to help offset inequities in the existing shared revenue formula. According to the City of Janesville other peer communities receive an average of $201 in shared revenue aid per capita, while Janesville receives just $102. If enacted, Janesville would receive an estimated $650,823 in additional aid in 2026.
The bill also establishes a Shared Revenue Advisory Council, originally introduced by former Rep. Sue Conley. The Council would meet following each U.S. Census to evaluate the state’s shared revenue formula.
“This bill will help offset some of the pressure on mid-sized cities and ensure critical services for public safety remain funded,” Rep. Roe emphasized. “This bill calls for the organization of a Shared Revenue Council. I am inviting both Democrats and Republicans to form this council to do the hard work of studying and evaluating our current formulas so we can move forward as a state.”
Another component of the package expands local control over sales tax authority. The bill would allow counties and municipalities to incrementally raise local option sales taxes up to 0.5%, providing an additional revenue stream to support services like public safety, transportation, and infrastructure maintenance.
The package also includes updates to Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) and Tax Incremental District (TID) regulations—key tools used by municipalities to promote infrastructure investment and economic development.
“I am excited to continue working with town boards and municipality leadership as we expand the local government tool box to allow for creative and sustainable revenue sources to serve the public,” Roe ended.
