In an attempt to rectify Wisconsin's $1.1 billion budget shortfall, Gov. Scott McCallum revealed his Budget Reform Act of 2002 before a joint session on the state Legislature Tuesday morning at the state Capitol.
\My Budget Reform Act is about making government less costly, more manageable, more effective and more accountable,"" McCallum said in his address.
Under the proposal, the budget for state government operations would be slimmed down by 11.5 percent with the Governor's Office taking the biggest hit with a 16.5 percent cut.
But it is a 4 percent reduction in local government spending and the eventual phase out of the state's shared revenue program, which provides state money to those governments, that has opponents of the measure in an uproar.
Madison Mayor Sue Bauman said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the cuts will result in local governments losing more than $1 billion worth of aid by 2004, adding that Madison could lose $16 million annually by 2004.
""Basic city services will be disrupted if [Madison] is forced to absorb the large cuts the governor is contemplating,"" she said. ""Sixteen million dollars is more than 60 percent of what we spend for fire services each year and more than 40 percent of the police budget.""
If the governor's reform passes the state Legislature, Madison residents could see a negative effect on county services this year, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said in a statement Tuesday.
""Care for the disabled, elderly and children; law enforcement; and road repair are just some of the services that could be affected by the governor's cuts,"" she said. ""These cuts will have to result in cuts in Dane County programs and services this year.""
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, will fight hard to guarantee cities and counties do not carry an undue burden of the budget cuts, according to his Press Secretary Mike Browne.
""What you're seeing here is that over the past seven years local governments have been some of the best at holding down spending and the governor is essentially trying to balance the budget on their backs,"" Browne said.
McCallum would make reduced shared revenue payments to local governments with $794 million over the next few years from the sale of tobacco revenue bonds, which the state received as part of multi-state settlement with the tobacco industry.
Steve Baas, press secretary for Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, said Jensen was in support of using the tobacco revenue since the governor promised the state would eventually pay the fund back.
""It's a loan, not a raid on the fund,"" he said. ""The state has never defaulted on a loan.""
Browne said debate on the reform act will take place during the special session that McCallum called for Tuesday, which will run concurrently with the normal legislation session, but will probably not begin for a few weeks as state legislators wait for the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau to analyze the proposal.
