The state finished the fiscal year with about $267.9 million more in the general fund than previously anticipated, according to the state’s newly released annual fiscal report.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau had previously projected the state would end the fiscal year on June 30 with a $4.3 billion surplus. Yesterday’s report put the general fund balance at $4.6 billion.
Gov. Tony Evers said his administration has worked hard to provide tax relief for the middle class while paying down debts and saving when possible.
“This is great news for our state’s financial future, especially given all of the national economic uncertainty and volatility we’re facing today,” Evers said. “I look forward to continuing to work across the aisle to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars while making smart and strategic investments to protect the future that we’ve worked hard to build together.”
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The state also reported $22.4 billion in tax collections, largely mirroring what the Legislative Fiscal Bureau projected in late August, with a slight uptick. The $22.4 billion is up 4.8% compared to the $21.3 billion in the previous year. The state’s rainy day fund grew to nearly $2 billion, the largest balance for the fund in state history, according to Evers’ office.
General purpose revenue spending, excluding transfers of funds, was $21.1 billion, $169 million more than the budgeted allocation of $20.9 billion.
Joint Finance Committee Co-chair Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said the state ended the fiscal year with a strong balance “in spite of Governor Evers’ proposals, not because of them.”
“If the Legislature had rubber-stamped Governor Evers’ original budget proposals, our state would be facing a structural deficit today. His plans have proposed billions in new spending, much of it unsustainable, and would have drained our surplus to dangerously low levels,” Born said.
He said Republicans “stood firm” against Evers’ “most reckless proposals” and have passed responsible budgets.
JFC Co-chair Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, credited Wisconsin’s fiscal state to “sound fiscal policy.”
“When I was elected, the state was facing a $3 billion deficit. Thanks to more than a decade of sound fiscal policy, the state’s general fund has a healthy balance. The final FY 25 ending balance reported in the Annual Fiscal Report is about what we expected,” Marklein said.
