Republican leaders of the Legislature's budget-writing committee announced a deal Tuesday to end a two-month impasse on the $76 billion budget -- a plan that hikes fees on electric and hybrid vehicles, moves ahead with interstate tolling but includes no long-term solution to pay for roads.
Joint Finance Committee co-chairs Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling both expressed disappointment that they failed to reach a longer-term solution for road funding, a perennial problem caused by deteriorating roads and not enough incoming fuel tax to pay for planned projects. Republican Gov. Scott Walker refused to sign-off on a gas tax increase to solve the problem, and instead called for delaying road work and borrowing more.
The deal to be voted on by the budget committee Tuesday would borrow $410 million for roads, including $250 million included in a separate bill to complete rebuilding of Interstate 94 from Milwaukee south to the Illinois border. There would be no additional delays in roadwork beyond those Walker had proposed in his initial budget, Nygren said.
Darling said she was "very disappointed" there was no money for work on the 3.5-mile portion of I-94 between the Marquette and Zoo interchanges west of Milwaukee, calling it short-sighted to halt that project as Walker had proposed.
"We're going to have orange buckets up all over the place for years," she said.
Nygren said it was disappointing that the budget includes no long-term solution to the transportation funding problem, which is likely to be before lawmakers again in two years when they write the next budget.
"I was concerned two years ago where we would be today and I'm concerned today where we're going to be two years from now," Nygren said.
Madison-area business leaders earlier Tuesday called on lawmakers and Walker to reach a long-term funding solution for roads, saying delays on the Verona Road/Highway 151 project south of Madison was hurting their bottom lines.
"Do it. Figure it out. Show some real leadership," said Democratic state Rep. Terese Berceau.
The budget plan would include a new $100 fee on electric vehicles and $75 for hybrid vehicles. That's on top of the usual $75 fee for vehicles now. The argument is the electric and hybrid vehicle owners pay less of their share in gas taxes but still use the same roads that depend on money from the gas tax to be maintained.
How to plug a roughly $1 billion shortfall in road funding was the largest unsolved issue in the state budget, but many other items also remained for the Joint Finance Committee to address Tuesday. Those include:
- How much to reduce the personal property tax, paid primarily by businesses on equipment, furniture and other property they own. Walker proposed a small personal income tax cut, but lawmakers have indicated they're not going to do that.
- Whether to go along with Walker's call for a sales tax holiday every year in August for back-to-school items.
- Whether to go along with Walker's plan to hire additional auditors at the Revenue Department, a move that's been met with resistance from the state's business community.
- Whether to go along with Walker's call, rejected in the last budget, to limit a tax credit for historic preservation projects to $10 million a year.
- What to include in a final, anonymous wrap-up motion that historically has included divisive items such as gutting the state open records law. Nygren said the motion will not be as expansive as past years and will include mostly technical issues.
Once the committee completes its work on the budget, it will then head to the full Assembly for a vote as soon as next week. It must also pass the Senate and be signed by Walker before taking effect. It was due July 1, but current spending has continued during the impasse.
