(Madison) Co-Chairs of the state’s Joint Finance Committee have announced four public hearings for the proposed state budget. The meetings will be April 5th at the Waukesha County Expo Center, April 11th at the UW-Eau Claire Student Center, April 12th at the Wilderness Resort Glacier Canyon Conference Center in Wisconsin Dells, and April 26th at the Lakeland Union High School in Minocqua.
The public hearings will begin at 10am and conclude at 5pm. The Committee has also created an online portal to take comments.
The Republican co-chairs say they are willing to work with Democratic Governor Tony Evers, up to a point.
“I’m going to represent my district. And as far as…you know, a seventeen-percent increase in our spending and hiring 800 new state employees and all that stuff…everywhere I’ve gone to [in] my district, they’re like, ‘no way,’” says Senator Howard Marklein of Spring Green.
Representative Mark Born of Beaver Dam says the process will be much like previous budgets from Evers.
“We’re going to work from base and build a budget that invests in the priorities of Wisconsin and has tax reform,” says Born. “And much like the last two, has the opportunity then to be a bipartisan budget, because it’s a good budget that folks can be proud of and get behind and, and has both things that he wants to see in a budget and that we want to see in a budget.”
Born notes Evers has a powerful line item veto which he may use to “make a few changes around the edges” of the two year spending plan. Both Born and Marklein say they hope to have a final budget that has something for both sides, and that Evers will sign.
Born also has several upcoming budget listening sessions throughout Dodge County beginning tomorrow in Fall River. The budget listening session meeting schedule is as follows:
| Fall River Friday, March 10th 1:45 PM – 2:15 PM Fall River Village Hall 641 S Main St, Fall River, WI 53932 | Juneau Saturday, March 11th 10 AM – 11 AM Juneau Public Library 250 N Fairfield Ave, Juneau, WI 53039 | Lomira Monday, March 13th 11:30 AM – 12:00 PM Lomira Village Hall 425 Water Street Lomira, WI 53048 |
| Mayville Monday, March 13th 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM Mayville City Hall 15 S School St, Mayville, WI 53050 | Calamus Friday, March 17th 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM Calamus Town Hall W9820 County Road D Beaver Dam, WI 53916 | Burnett Monday, March 27th 11:30 AM – 12:00 PM Burnett Town Hall W6228 W Main St, Burnett, WI 53922 |
| Beaver Dam Monday, March 27th 4 PM – 5 PM Beaver Dam City Hall 205 S Lincoln Ave, Beaver Dam, WI 53916 | Iron Ridge Friday, March 31st 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM Iron Ridge Village Hall 205 Park St, Iron Ridge, WI 53035 | Rubicon Friday, March 31st 12 PM – 12:30 PM Rubicon Town Hall N3864 Co Rd P, Rubicon, WI 53078 |
Born says these meetings provide constituents with the opportunity to ask questions and speak directly with him on issues important to them during the budget-writing process.
–WRN contributed
