Now that the state’s finances are projected to be back in the black under Gov. Scott Walker, organizations are lining up to receive their cut after sharing the sacrifice.
The League of Wisconsin Municipalities sent a letter to the governor Tuesday requesting a portion of the projected surplus be returned to provide property tax relief.
Municipalities took a $100 million hit in the current state budget to alleviate the state’s fiscal problems. However, the state announced that tax revenues are projected to come in $126.6 million higher than anticipated. The League of Municipalities contends the state’s recovery wouldn’t have occurred without investment in economic development and infrastructure at the local level.
“(Gov. Walker) recently said that the next state budget will focus on creating jobs and investing in infrastructure,” said League President Lee Meyerhofer. “Municipal officials share this goal, but to accomplish it the state must reinvest a portion of its revenue growth in cities and villages to spur further job creation and put Wisconsin on the road to permanent financial stability.”
The group is asking Walker to restore the $48 million portion slashed from the state’s shared revenue program. It would like the cuts restored as communities move forward with 2013 budget preparations. The league crafted a resolution in 2011 urging the governor to restore the funds.
MPS wouldn't have to cut workforce as drastically as they've had to if the teacher's union had agreed to some concessions. And if the unions are 'all about the kids,' as you seem to believe, and if cutting teachers results in harm to the students, then why isn't the union willing to make such concessions? Must not be all about the kids after all, right? So how can you stand with and support the union if you're as concerned as about the kids as you now claim to be?
Vehicles wear out the roads as a function of their 'weight class', not due to their fuel usage. A road traveled by only the Prius' will show a similar wear-out timeline to a road only used by the Jeep Grand Wagoneer V-8. Heavier commercial trucks cause most of the premature wear on our highway system, and they pay a significantly higher portion of the cost to maintain the roads, in both their high fuel tax payments and yearly registration fees. @Randy... If everyone only filled up their tank six times a year,like you, the usage based fee system(gas tax) would fail. We could not afford to build or maintain any roads. Then the registration fee for your Jeep might need to be $2000.00/year. What is the value of the road to you? It's there when you want to use it. That might be worth something?
“If the municipalities were serious about saving the taxpayers money, they'd stop spending it on stupid crap like the damn league!!!” Goofa, the League is the watchdog, call it the Better Business Bureau, of local government (that’s city councils, village and town boards), that looks out for the best interests of the local taxpayer. They have no political affiliation. They just care about protecting local taxpayers against the likes of unions and other usurpers of taxation including intrusive governors like Doyle, Walker, etc. This is their website: www.lwm-info.org “This is so outrageous! We're still about 3B in the hole with previously acquired debt, and these idiots hear projected surplus of a meager $126.6M and they go and stick their cups out right away - it's absolutely pathetic!!!” Your ignorance is absolutely pathetic. BTW, continue to support your local badge union ACT 10 exemption which the League opposes too.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/26/jimmy-hoffa-remains-roseville-dig_n_1917396.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D211478
"If you want to give your money away to someone else’s debt" Are you not a Wisconsin resident? The quicker WE pay down OUR debt, the less interest WE incur, thereby saving all of US money in the long run! The way it sounds like you prefer public budget management to be handled is to keep on pushing off our problems and debt onto future generations, so long as you get yours in addition to some of the futures, right? So selfish!!! So, the question then becomes, why do you hate our yet unborn future so much for??? "Goofa, the League is the watchdog" Watchdog Hoffa's rear end! The PEOPLE are the watchdog! We don't need to be spending our money for a third party group to do what WE elect our public officials to do! That's absolutely insane! As Greg correctly pointed out, it's "just another layer of lobbyists and lawyers digging for a piece of the pie." It's an unnecessary expense that WE shouldn't be spending OUR money on! "Your ignorance is absolutely pathetic." Thanks for the laugh and proving once again that you're full of nothing but nonsense! And for the last time, Hoffa is against all public sector unionization!
They're always looking for Hoffa ;-) But anyone who's seen 'Nothing But Trouble' (1991) already knows what happened to me! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enUo-1TjdEs Even more elusive than Hoffa's body is the fifty ($50) that Schmitzy owes Hoffa and refuses to pay! Maybe Patch should do a story on that, the headline could read - Low Life Schmitz Reneges On Friendly Wager With Hoffa!
After following the Hwy. 33 reconstruction project, I would conclude that there is a lot of money that could be saved, rather than just hitting us up with more taxes.
So Goofa, name your local government officials right here, right now. Are they a city council, village or town board? You have no clue, do you? You are an armchair bullhorn at a mere 34 years of age, never ran for local public office, never will because that would take time, putting your real name and face out there and committing yourself to the public. In essence, you are chicken s--t, just admit it! A wannabe.
Township board, and Hoffa doesn't see how providing their names will prove anything, so he's not going to indulge in your nonsense! FYI - At the insistence of many, and out of his own personal concern for the future of our community, Hoffa is considering running for public office in the next election cycle! BTW - Don't you find it a bit ironic and extremely hypocritical for someone who hides behind a screen-name himself to call out someone else for doing the exact same thing? And yet, Hoffa's the wannabe??? Your doctors definitely don't have your prescriptions figured out yet, do they?
You and I know you will never run for town board come April because it is easier to bitch and spew on the internet. A 34 year old chickens--t that talks a good game. Don't need the town board member's names, just the name of the township. My guess is either western Kenosha or Racine county 'cause that is the mentality there. Getting warm? Be honest now.
Honestly, Hoffa could care less about his farmer neighbors that spread manure - he's never complained about that a day in his life. Given that Hoffa's abode is completely surrounded by nothing but farm fields for two square miles in all directions, yes, Hoffa gets along quite well with his farmer neighbors! Hoffa's house is 1,750 sq. ft., he has an 18'x36' in-ground swimming pool, a 32'x44' framed roof barn with concrete floor, a 24'x20' framed wood shed with concrete floor, a large vegetable garden, and a total of 3.64 acres of land. Hoffa is thinking about putting in a large reflecting pond! Currently, Hoffa's yearly property tax bill is roughly $900 with the homestead exemption and we do not have trash collection. So just because Hoffa prefers not to have neighbors, a piece of land bigger than .5 acres or smaller, to use his own water and septic systems instead of a shared inefficiently run system, less regulations and encumbrances on how he can use his property, etc. - this all somehow makes Hoffa "a property tax cheapskate who uses village's and cities as a whore?!?!" WRONG - it's call maximizing freedom! And Hoffa supposes that you prefer the modular construction communal highrises, right? OK comrade! Hoffa's political ambitions would actually aim higher than the town board! Again, Hoffa doesn't see how naming the township or location of township is at all relevant, except to stereotype, so Hoffa will not indulge in your nonsense!
You are an urbanizer and developer by the acre or township that is destroying the fabric of our rural countryside for your selfish needs. No where do you note the agricultural or other rural use of the land other than to meet your antisocial needs to keep people away from you. Yep, a city and village moocher by admission. A 34 year old Gen Xer that got property form daddy or gandpa for nothing. Do you let people hunt or trap on your propery? I would guess not.
Hoffa's homestead is not familial and was not given to him by anyone! Hoffa purchased it himself with funds he earned, obviously a foreign concept to you. It's obvious that you have no respect for private property ownership rights, except of course when your neighbor's cat dare trespasses on your little slice of heaven! And even then, as opposed to dealing with the neighbors, you commit an act of barbarism by killing the innocent cat - great lesson for your kids! Is it honestly that hard to leave your trailer and knock on the door of your neighbor's trailer and deal with that situation like a man??? Or at least lodge a complaint with whatever trailer park you're currently parked at? Or were you too busy getting drunk and listening to old Skynyrd albums? Hoffa doesn't allow trapping or hunting on his land. Do you allow Jehovah's Witnesses into your trailer when they visit the trailer park?
“Or at least lodge a complaint with whatever trailer park you're currently parked at?” No mortgage home owner of a beautiful suburban house. 80 acres of wonderful woodland in Shawano Co. w/o mortgage. You have debt I am sure? “Hoffa doesn't allow trapping or hunting on his land.” Fuzzy Lumpkins -“GET OFF MY PROPERTY” country urbanizer. Spoiler of the free and open country side. Cheapskate usurper of Villages and Cities. I like Jehovah’s Witnesses. I worked with one before you were born and found them not abrasive like you and they send a good message. Maybe you at 34 should listen and learn?