{"id":3336,"date":"2023-06-08T21:24:53","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T21:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=3336"},"modified":"2023-06-08T22:02:06","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T22:02:06","slug":"wisconsin-shared-revenue-deal-13-wins-for-conservatives-baked-into-the-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=3336","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin Shared Revenue Deal: 13 Wins for Conservatives Baked Into the Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/wisconsin-shared-revenue-deal\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"wisconsin<\/p>\n

Republican leaders Robin Vos and Devin LeMahieu announced on Thursday that they have reached a historic Wisconsin shared revenue deal with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, no easy feat in the state\u2019s bitterly divided government. <\/p>\n

The bill accomplishes some major, long-held goals of conservatives, stopping the defunding the police movement, expanding school choice aid, putting cops back in Milwaukee schools, preventing tax dollars from funding the street car, and repealing the onerous personal property tax to help small business, for starters.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee officials got one very big thing they wanted: The ability to have elected representatives (the Common Council and County Board) approve a sales tax increase to fix the city and county\u2019s massive unfunded pension liabilities. Vos had previously insisted on a referendum. The City of Milwaukee will now be able to raise its sales tax by 2%. Milwaukee County will be able to raise its sales tax by .4% not .375%, if legislators in Vos\u2019s and LeMahieu\u2019s chambers follow their lead. The other options were worse, though; Milwaukee bankruptcy or massive cuts in services, such as 500 cops).<\/p>\n

Republican leaders also agreed to increase shared revenue to local governments with fewer than 110,000 people from 15 to 20%, LeMahieu said. Obviously, that will help conservative areas of the state. The shared revenue formula was broken, most experts agree, stressing local governments from being able to provide core services as Biden-inflation soared. The increases are coming from a portion of the state sales tax that Wisconsin already collects.<\/p>\n

In addition to the other conservative wins, and this is a big one, the deal directs that the shared revenue increases in all state communities go to fund local law enforcement, fire, EMS, public works, and transportation \u2013 core services, Republican leaders said. In other words, locals can\u2019t fritter the money away on fluff.<\/p>\n

Evers said in a statement, \u201cI\u2019ve reached a tentative agreement with GOP leaders on a historic increase in shared revenue to support communities of every size statewide, contingent upon a historic investment in K-12 schools and education.\u201d In truth, Milwaukee had so mismanaged its finances and pension system that Evers really had limited leverage here.<\/p>\n

Here are 13 wins for conservatives that were baked into the bill. In a news conference, Vos called them \u201cconservative wins with things we struggled to get over the finish line before.\u201d He added that the state was giving \u201cMilwaukee the opportunity to correct years of mismanagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

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1. Wisconsin Shared Revenue Deal: School Choice Aid Increase<\/h2>\n
\n

WIN! Voucher and charter schools get a huge bump in Wisconsin.
Up to 40% increase in choice and charter enrollments coming.
Thanks to leadership including @repvos<\/a> @SenatorDevin<\/a> @RepDittrich<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/Al5JfrDEy1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dan Lennington (@DanLennington) June 8, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Vos said in a news conference that he changed his mind on the referendum requirement because of the school choice expansion. He said there is a chance, based on estimates by school choice folks, that \u201cwe are looking at upwards of a 40% increase of the number of kids who will be able to be in a choice school.\u201d He said Republican leaders \u201ctraded away\u201d the referendum for that.<\/p>\n

Vos called the shared revenue deal \u201ctransformational,\u201d and he said it would mark the \u201clargest expansion of school choice since the program was originally founded.\u201d At the same time, Vos said, the plan delivers more money for public schools.<\/p>\n

LeMahieu also touted the school choice changes, saying that the plan \u201cinvests heavily in school choice\u201d while also being the \u201cbiggest investment in public education ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evers acknowledged that the plan provides a \u201cper pupil aid increase for choice and independent charter schools.\u201d Vos said that, under the new formula, private choice K-8 schools will get $9,500 per pupil, charter schools $11,000 and high schools $12,000, still less than the amount spent in any public school. <\/p>\n

In addition, he said the deal increases the reimbursement rate for special education and puts $50 million into a literacy program.<\/p>\n

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2. Repeal of the Personal Property Tax<\/h2>\n

The bill repeals the personal property tax for everyone in the state. This has been a particularly onerous tax for small businesses.<\/p>\n

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3. Preventing the Milwaukee Police Department From Being Defunded<\/h2>\n

According to state Rep. Tony Kurtz, a Republican, the city must maintain a strength of 1,725 sworn officers on the Milwaukee Police Department. We previously reported that the number of sworn MPD officers had dropped more than 18% since the mid-1990s as homicide soars.<\/p>\n

In addition, 218 firefighters will be added to get the Fire Department\u2019s strength to \u201cproper levels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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4. Preserving the Detective Bureau<\/h2>\n

The MPD used to boast some of the best clearance rates in the country, but it has struggled with depleted staffing levels. Kurtz said the shared revenue deal means that the guaranteed 1,725 sworn MPD officers must include 175 detectives.<\/p>\n

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5. Shifting Power From the Civilian Fire & Police Commission to the Police Chief<\/h2>\n

The uniquely powerful civilians on the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission have long been a thorn in the sides of police chiefs.<\/p>\n

The shared revenue deal means that the police chief \u201cwill now be making policy, not the unelected people on the Police and Fire Commission,\u201d said Kurtz. It should be noted that the commission has been so extreme in recent years that one member advocated for abolishing the police.<\/p>\n

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6. Help for Courts & the Jail<\/h2>\n

Court backlogs, driven in part by bad COVID policy decisions from local officials, have imperiled public safety in Milwaukee County.<\/p>\n

According to Kurtz, the deal \u201cdirects the county to help with the county courts,\u201d as well as with correctional officers in the jail (where they are 90 short). It also helps the medical examiner\u2019s office and a facility for children.<\/p>\n

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7. 25 School Resource Officers Will Be Deployed in the Milwaukee Public School System<\/h2>\n

State Rep. Barb Dittrich, who spoke at the news conference, said the deal requires that MPS \u201cput 25 school resource officers at their schools across the district,\u201d noting that \u201cthese SROs create relationships with the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that the plan also requires school districts to track crimes that occur on school grounds during school sanctioned events and to create a school accountability report.<\/p>\n

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8. No Tax Dollars for the Street Car<\/h2>\n

Milwaukee officials are barred from using tax levy dollars to expand the street car. <\/p>\n

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9. Local Public Health Official Restrictions on Closing Businesses<\/h2>\n

Republican legislators said the bill prevents local public health officials from closing down businesses for an extended period of time and deeming them essential or not.<\/p>\n

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10. No DEI<\/h2>\n

Vos said that the deal ensures \u201cno DEI will be funded around the state,\u201d referring to diversity, equity and inclusivity positions.<\/p>\n

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11. Requiring a 2\/3rds Vote for New Spending or Positions<\/h2>\n

Milwaukee will have to have a 2\/3rds vote to have any new net spending or to create net new positions under the plan.<\/p>\n

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12. Limiting How the Sales Tax Revenue Can Be Spent<\/h2>\n

Rep. Tony Kurtz, a Republican, said in the news conference that the city sales tax, if approved, would generate $184 million annually, and the county sales tax would generate $76 million.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cthese funds must\u2026be used to address their unfunded pension liability and to maintain and grow their law enforcement, fire protection and emergency services,\u201d Kurtz said. In other words, the city can\u2019t fritter away the new revenue on nonsense.<\/p>\n

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13. Moving New City & County Workers Into the State Pension System<\/h2>\n

City and county pensions have long been more lucrative than those in the state pension system, and they\u2019ve long been a bane for taxpayers (recall: the county pension scandal and Tom Ament recall.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have a soft close of the current pension system for city and county,\u201d Kurtz said. \u201cAll new hires will come on to the Wisconsin retirement system, which was voted the best in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Is there support for the deal in the full Senate and Assembly? LeMahieu said he hadn\u2019t had a chance to talk individually with all of his members, but he predicted that rural lawmakers would be hard-pressed to vote against a plan that helps so many of their communities.<\/p>\n

Vos admitted there was \u201csome heartburn\u201d among Assembly Republicans over getting rid of the referendum requirement, but he believes he will get the votes because there are \u201cenough conservative wins.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/wisconsin-shared-revenue-deal\/ Republican leaders Robin Vos and Devin LeMahieu announced on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":3338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-right-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3336"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3339,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3336\/revisions\/3339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}