Gov. Scott Walker is at it again—making budget cuts that affect citizens across Wisconsin. This time Walker is attempting to eliminate funding to state mandated recycling programs. Local communities can still operate recycling programs, but they wouldn't receive a state subsidy to help with the costs, which means local governments would have to make up the difference. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee will lose $3.3 million a year in recycling aid with no relief on tipping fees, money trucks pay landfills based on their weight.
Let's get one thing straight. As I have stated in previous articles, I am in no sense of the word an environmentalist. I would be 100 percent behind Walker if this cut actually saved a significant amount of money and was beneficial to Wisconsin. However, it doesn't and it isn't.
Let's run some numbers. As stated above, Milwaukee would lose $3.3 million, and according to Tom Barrett the city's landfill costs would potentially rise $2.5 million a year under this budget. As a result, Walker saves $800,000 the first year the budget goes into effect: not very impressive. Jobs will also be lost due to the eradication of community recycling programs and fewer public works positions. By my count, we save less than one million dollars and get rid of potential jobs. This cut is hardly beneficial for Wisconsin.
Instead, we need to be promoting environmental programs. They create jobs and ultimately drive people to Wisconsin, which helps to stimulate the economy. Cutting funding for public programs will do nothing but push people away.
I can't wrap my mind around the idea of eliminating public funding to community recycling programs as a response to the budget deficit. It seems to me that the budget problem is not just a result of government spending. As such, I am forced to wonder, is Walker really this anti-green? He has eliminated other green projects in the past, which suggests environmental preservation is not high on his list of priorities. Does he value closing the budget gap so much more than public service programs? Of all the things to cut, why was recycling among the many that were chosen?
Walker's recent cutbacks, including the slash to recycling programs seem questionable. In addition to taking rights from unions and the Voter ID bill, which requires a valid photo ID with a current address in order to vote—attacking students and minorities—he shut down high-speed rail, the biofuel project and tightened wind-farm rules. Walker needs to realize that sitting around cutting programs might save money in the short term, but won't fix anything in the long run.
To be honest, it seems like Walker is throwing darts at a list of public services and making drastic cuts to the programs that get hit. Walker needs to understand you can't just blindly cut programs in the name of reeling in government spending, but rather spend wisely.
The idea that Wisconsin is open for business, as Walker suggests, is a complete farce. We will soon have a sub par waste removal system, a broken teachers' union and an unnecessarily difficult voting process. What's next?
Nicholas Fritz is a sophomore majoring in marketing. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
