Gov. Tony Evers said state revenues for 2025-27 are on track to come in as much as $1 billion higher than previously projected — and he wants lawmakers to use the additional funds to drive down property taxes.
The Dem governor, in his last year of office, called on lawmakers to approve the $1.3 billion in property tax relief he included in the 2025-27 budget that Republicans rejected. Still, he told reporters he was open to any approach that would help homeowners.
The call comes as GOP lawmakers have sought to blame Evers’ 400-year veto for the spike in property tax bills many homeowners saw in bills last month. The veto wrote into state law over the next four centuries an annual increase in per pupil spending of $325 per kid. The 2025-27 budget didn’t put any additional general state aid into the formula, allowing districts to raise property taxes to account for all the spending increase.
Evers dismissed the criticism.
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“Before that 400-year veto, we were going to referendum all the time,” the former state schools superintendent said at an availability previewing his final year in office. “They can use that as an excuse if they want to. Let’s just get it done. I don’t believe that has anything to do with this.”
Evers’ budget called for a series of steps to lower property taxes, from putting more state money into public education to supplemental aid for local governments.
The new call, which wouldn’t impact homeowners until they receive their bills in December, was one of several pushes Evers made for lawmakers to spend money the state either has in reserves or is expected to take in. The 2025-27 budget he signed was projected to have a gross balance of $770 million at the end of the biennium.
His ideas range from putting more money into special education reimbursement to approving various sales tax breaks Evers proposed in the budget, such as exempting adult diapers and breast pumps.
The guv’s office didn’t put a total price tag on the new spending he was proposing.
Along with his media availability, Evers sent lawmakers a 10-page letter laying out his priorities for the rest of the year. Most of the items were provisions he included in his 2025-27 that were GOP lawmakers rejected. That includes auditing insurance companies when their denial rates are too high, extending postpartum coverage for new moms on Medicaid to 12 months from the current 60 days and providing state funding for two homes serving homeless veterans that have now closed.
