Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein dismissed a $1.8 billion surplus spending deal from GOP leaders and Gov. Tony Evers as coming from “three men who will not be in elected office next year.”

Evers, meanwhile, said during a stop in Barneveld that he believed voting against the tax cut deal would be a “hard position” for Democrats to take in an election year. The governor added he wasn’t concerned whether members of his party voted for the package, just so long as it passed. 

“I need a majority of each house, and whether that’s all Democrats, all Republicans, or a mix, I don’t care,” Evers said.

The governor this morning announced details of the deal he reached with Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester. All three have announced they won’t seek reelection this fall.

“From my perspective, there is no deal,” Hesselbein, D-Middleton, said in an afternoon statement, adding it was unclear whether Republican lawmakers had the votes to pass the package.

“Senate Democrats will have more to say once we have seen the full details of this expensive proposal and have gotten some clarifying information on revenue projections in this time of significant economic uncertainty and upheaval,” Hesselbein added. 

The deal would take the bulk of the state’s projected $2.5 billion surplus to put more money into school aid, property tax reductions and rebates for Wisconsinites, as well as eliminate state income tax on tips and overtime pay. The price tag would be offset somewhat with new projections from the Evers administration that tax collections could come in $300 million to $350 million higher than what the Legislative Fiscal Bureau had projected in January.

The election-year deal includes the money for education that Evers wanted, the property tax relief that Assembly Republicans sought and the rebates that Senate Republicans demanded be part of any deal.

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, did not respond to queries from WisPolitics as to whether Assembly Democrats would support the tax surplus. 

Republican leaders both released statements backing the deal, with Vos crediting GOP fiscal policy for creating the surplus and saying lawmakers were “sending it back to help families with the pressure of increasing costs, reward hard work, and continue investing in schools.”

LeMahieu said the deal would provide “permanent property and income tax relief for Wisconsin families.” 

With an 18-15 majority in the state Senate, Republicans could only lose one member of their caucus on the deal and still pass it without Dem support.

Already, retiring GOP Sen. Steve Nass has criticized the “closed-door deal,” saying it set the state up for a larger structural deficit in the next biennial budget and did not win concessions like ending the guv’s “400-year veto” or raising the ceiling for property tax increases that fund schools.  

“It appears Evers gets a big win by getting Republicans to agree on a large infusion of cash to education, but there are no binding reforms to address the increasingly poor performance in math and reading by students statewide,” the Whitewater Republican said, adding that he believed GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany would be a “better fighter for taxpayers” than current leadership. 

The GOP-run Joint Finance Committee will take up the deal tomorrow, with both houses voting on it Wednesday. Evers issued an executive order this afternoon calling lawmakers back to Madison to vote on the surplus deal. 

A Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis of the bill shows it includes:

  • $870 million to provide one-time payments of $600 for married joint filers and $300 for individuals.
  • $315 million to boost reimbursements for special education costs. LFB projected that would up the reimbursement rate to 42.7% in 2025-26 and 50% in 2026-27, though those rates would change depending on how much districts sought from the state to cover their costs.
  • $16.3 million more in per pupil payments for pupils participating in the choice, charter, special needs scholarship, and open enrollment programs because of the increase in special education funding.
  • $302.5 million for a new school aid beginning in 2026-27 that would drive down the property taxes that districts collect. According to LFB, it would amount to about $387 per student.
  • $50 million to reduce property taxes collected by the state’s technical colleges.

The tax break on overtime would reduce collections by $179.9 million in 2026-27, the last year of this biennium. The impact would be $148.1 million in 2027-28.

The exemption for tips would save filers $52.9 million in 2026-27 and $48.9 million in 2027-28.

The guv did not provide a firm date for when Wisconsinites would begin receiving rebates, but Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said residents could expect them “in the coming months” ahead of November’s elections. 

Homeowners could expect to see the impact of the property tax reduction in their bills that go out in December, Cudaback said. 

Dem governor candidates weigh in

Several Dem gubernatorial candidates knocked the deal, with state Sen. Kelda Roys charging Evers and Republicans had brokered it from “behind a curtain.” 

Roys also called Vos a “puppeteer” who had “stolen” the surplus fund through cuts to public education.

“In his final ‘screw you’ to working families, he’s trying to set the state’s projected surplus on fire – all in a desperate and irresponsible gambit to rescue Howard Marklein and other vulnerable GOP legislators from their coming defeat in November,” the Madison Democrat said in a statement.

Asked about Roys’ “curtain” comment, Evers said his staff had kept lawmakers notified throughout negotiations and noted that not every lawmaker got a say in budget negotiations. 

“If she’s going to be governor, she needs to get used to it,” Evers said. 

Joel Brennan, who served as Evers’ Administration secretary during the governor’s first term, said he was disappointed the deal didn’t involve public input from Wisconsinites.

“I’m all for putting money back in people’s pockets, giving our schools a much-needed boost, and providing some property tax relief, but this deal misses the mark in many other ways,” Brennan said. “It does nothing to address the cost-of-living crisis that is still crushing Wisconsin families on things like child care, health care, and gas and utility prices.”

Meanwhile, Milwaukee County Exec David Crowley posted on X that, “More funding for our schools and special ed programs is a win for Wisconsin. Governor Evers deserves credit for finding the common ground to make this possible. But a one-year property tax break is not a long-term affordability plan.”

The campaigns of Mandela Barnes, Francesca Hong, Missy Hughes and Sara Rodriguez didn’t immediately respond to messages Monday seeking comment. They also hadn’t posted about the tax package on X as of early this afternoon.

The campaign of GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany also didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.