By BRIAN LEAHY
of The Gazette
Expect a lot of debate in Madison and around the state as legislators and the governor work on the biennial budget.
"This will probably be our most difficult budget," said State Sen. Brian Burke, D-Milwaukee. Burke, co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, has worked on two other budgets while serving on that committee.
Burke called Gov. Scott McCallum's proposed budget fundamentally unbalanced.
The budget uses tobacco settlement funds, that will be paid out over time, as a lump sum revenue to balance the budget, which Burke calls a "questionable mechanism." Burke made his comments Friday, March 9, during an interview at The Gazette offices. He, like McCallum, was in Stevens Point for the 2001 Wisconsin Lakes Convention.
Another challenge facing the budget is actual tax revenues were greater than projected revenues during the booming economy of the 1990s, but that will change now that the national economy is in a downturn, Burke said.
Burke also criticized proposals to move nine consumer protection positions from the Department of Justice to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and reduce the SAGE (Student Achievement Guarantee in Education) program from kindergarten-third grade to kindergarten and first grade.
Burke is a candidate for state attorney general. Incumbent Jim Doyle is a Democratic candidate for governor.
McCallum defended his budget proposal when he spoke at the Lakes Convention.
"Simply put … in Wisconsin we need to put our fiscal house in order," McCallum said.
Like a family looking at its budget, the state must live within its means, McCallum said.
Wisconsin's budget should reflect the values of state residents, like education, quality of life and protecting natural resources, McCallum said. In his budget proposal, McCallum has earmarked $600,000 over two years to stop the spread of nonnative plants and animals.
McCallum was also in Stevens Point Wednesday, March 14, when he stopped at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to announce state funding for a $22 million project to expand and remodel the Fine Arts Center. The project will receive the second highest level of capital project funding in the state.
The Fine Arts Center was built in 1970. Changes have been proposed to the facility for the last 15 years as the popularity of its academic programs has increased. The project will add 43,000 square feet of rehearsal and classroom space to the current 63,000 square feet of instructional space. The addition will be to the north and east.
"The arts play an important role in the quality of life we enjoy in Wisconsin," McCallum said. "The Fine Arts program at UW-SP makes important contributions to this community and I'm proud of those contributions, and pleased to be able to announce this funding for the center, which will help continue those contributions."