UW-Madison
The UW-Madison Athletic Department hopes to acquire $2 million more for the Camp Randall Stadium renovation, marking the second time in one year the project has made additional multi-million-dollar budget requests. Last May the department petitioned for and received an additional $8 million. The total cost of the renovation will reach $109 million, according to the Associated Press.
Associate Vice Chancellor of Facilities Planning and Management Alan Fish said construction costs had eaten up the project's contingency fund after unexpected expenses emerged. The university stressed, however, that supplementary funding would go toward replacing the contingency fund and that it would come from donations to the department, not from taxpayers.
The athletic department is waiting for the Board of Regents to approve the funding next week.
Madison
Wisconsin signed a $13.9 million contract with Accenture LLC, a subsidiary of a private Bermuda-based conglomerate, to create and maintain the state's voter registration list through 2010. Additionally, the state signed a $2.7 million contract with DeLoitte Consulting LLP to manage the project.
Wisconsin is paying three times what Minnesota spent to compile a federally mandated statewide voter list. Minnesota spent $5.3 million to develop an in-house statewide voter list.
State Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, held a news conference yesterday urging Wisconsin to follow Minnesota's lead and develop the statewide voter list in-house.
Pocan added that Wisconsin will not even own the program software after its contract with Accenture expires in five years.
Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said the deal is bad for taxpayers and there are many state employees who are \perfectly capable"" of generating the list.
-The Capital Times contributed to this report
Madison
State Revenue Department officials reported Wednesday state-tax collections have risen 6.4 percent in the first seven months of the fiscal year, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Gov. Jim Doyle praised the news, as it will provide the state with an additional $100 million to pay bills-including a Medicaid program running a $70 million deficit-if the trends hold through June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
""Personal income in our state is growing faster than the national average,"" Doyle said in a statement. The Journal Sentinel reported Wisconsin's personal income will increase 5.7 percent this year, a 0.5 percent increase from last year.
