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JFC Concludes Final Budget Hearing
While Republican leaders remain tight-lipped about the new state budget, some rank and file Republicans are talking about their spending priorities.
The budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance held its fourth and final public budget hearing Tuesday in Wausau.
And once again, JFC co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, said Republicans are focusing on their process.
“We are certainly hopeful that we will have a budget that includes the tax relief, the details of that haven't been talked about yet [or] negotiated yet,” Marklein told reporters in Wausau. “And we're not going to negotiate anything in the media.”
Marklein, along with Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, said in Wausau pretty much what they’ve said at every budget hearing. They once again said they won’t make any budget decisions until after the Legislative Fiscal Bureau delivers its revenue estimates in mid-May. Born added that the process is expected to take another “six-to-eight weeks.”
While Marklein and Born focused on the process, Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Steven Point, talked about some of the projects he’d like to see included in the new state spending plan. Specifically out state road projects.
“Probably the most important thing that we did in the last budget was the creation of the ARIP Program, setting aside $150 million for our farm to market roads,” Testin explained. “We've seen a lot of resources go to the mega-projects down in southeastern Wisconsin, which are critically important, but we need to make sure that every corner of the state is being taken care of.”
Rep. Pat Snyder, R-Weston, said he’s looking to find more money for Wisconsin’s public schools.
“I just think that if we put a little bit more into Special Ed, talking to the superintendents, we might not invest as much into the other because that would help them over the long haul,” Snyder added.
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