MADISON – Wisconsin Democrats are criticizing a bipartisan deal the leader of their party struck with GOP legislative leaders to tap into the state’s budget surplus for additional school funding and property tax relief throughout Wisconsin.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Monday announced the $1.8 billion plan after months of negotiations with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg. All three are retiring at the end of this year.
Within hours of the deal’s announcement, three Democrats vying to replace Evers had blasted the agreement – and the Democratic leader of the state Senate, where the bill needs to pass to become law, raised doubts about its viability.
“From my perspective, there is no deal: Three men who will not be in elected office next year have come up with this proposal which Senate Dems will be reviewing,” Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein said in a statement.
“Any proposal must pass both houses of the legislature and no one knows if Republicans have the votes to pass it.”
Hesselbein said Senate Democrats will have more to say on “this expensive proposal.”
Democratic candidate for governor Kelda Roys, a state senator from Madison, pledged to reject what she called a “backroom deal” and an “election year bribe” that gives “a little one-time money to public schools while permanently cementing unfairness in our tax structure.”
Evers’ own former cabinet secretary Joel Brennan assailed the negotiations between Evers and the GOP leaders.
“Budgets are difficult to negotiate and demand tough decisions, and that’s why I believe they must be done in public with input from Wisconsinites. It’s very disappointing that this one wasn’t,” he said.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said electing a new Democrat governor and giving control of the state Legislature to Democrats “is the only way to ensure real progress on lowering housing, childcare, and healthcare costs and finally take the pressure off property taxpayers for the long haul.”
In response to the criticism, Evers told the Journal Sentinel, “Compromise is never perfect — that’s how compromise works.”
“Everyone gets something they want, and no one gets everything they want, and I think most Wisconsinites would say that’s how government’s supposed to work,” he said in a statement.
“Everywhere I go, I hear from families and teachers and principals who are worried about local schools going belly up, I hear from Wisconsinites who are getting priced out of their homes and can’t afford to raise their property taxes even higher to keep their school doors open, and I hear from working families who are struggling to keep up with rising costs on gas and groceries as it is while the state sits on a multi-billion-dollar surplus.
“Some legislators may be fine doing nothing about any of that, but I am not. It’s my job as governor to get things done and to help people however I can. I am not going to tell Wisconsinites to sit tight and hold out for another year or longer in hopes they may eventually get the help they need right now.”
At least one Democratic gubernatorial candidate showed support for the plan.
Missy Hughes, who headed the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. for the bulk of Evers’ administration, said the deal “offers immediate help on school funding and tax relief, and is a strong reminder that our next governor must have the expertise and track record to grow our economy for all Wisconsinites over the long haul.”
In a statement blasting the deal, Roys said Evers and GOP leaders “have emerged from behind a curtain with a proposal to spend the state’s projected surplus before it actually materializes and almost guarantee Wisconsin is facing a fiscal deficit in January 2027.”
She said she would seek to spend the entire budget surplus on schools if elected, but also criticized Vos for spending the surplus now.
In an interview, Roys did not say whether she would spend any of the surplus at this moment in time if she were in Evers’ position, but said she’s concerned spending the projected funds now could prevent the state from responding adequately “if we’re in a deep recession this time next year.”
“Robin Vos has controlled Wisconsin like a puppeteer for a generation. In his final ‘screw you’ to working families, he’s trying to set the state’s projected surplus on fire – all in a desperate and irresponsible gambit to rescue Howard Marklein and other vulnerable GOP legislators from their coming defeat in November,” she said.
Marklein is a longtime Republican state senator in a district that is more favorable to Democrats after a redrawing of electoral boundaries in recent years.
The proposed deal will spend down the state’s projected $2.5 billion surplus that, until now, lawmakers have been unable to agree on how to spend. An Evers spokeswoman told reporters there will still be funds left in the surplus, and the deal does not tap into the state’s rainy day fund of more than $2 billion.
The legislation would spend around $850 million on direct payments to income taxpayers, delivering $300 to individual filers or $600 to married couples in each rebate. The state Department of Revenue is still working out the details of distributing the rebates, but they will be delivered without taxpayers having to take action on their own.
It also would lower property taxes by directing hundreds of millions in state funds to schools and technical colleges, reducing the funding burden on property taxpayers, and provide a record increase for special education funding by bringing the state’s reimbursement rate to 50% by the end of the 2027 fiscal year.
The deal also eliminates taxes on cash tips and reverses Evers’ veto of a bill that eliminates taxes on overtime.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Jessie Opoien and Molly Beck can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com and molly.beck@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Democrats slam Evers’ deal with GOP on school funding, tax relief
Reporting by Jessie Opoien and Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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