• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Local governments grapple with lost aid, revenue caps

WALWORTH COUNTY — The contentious battle over public employee benefits and unions generated most of the headlines during the spring and summer.

But as tempers have cooled and summer heats up, the effect of those changes is just beginning to come into focus.

Gov. Scott Walker signed the $66 billion biennial budget in June, which trims more than $100 million in state aid to municipalities, including $30 million in transportation and $13 million in recycling.

The double whammy, however, comes in the loss of revenue sharing and levy restrictions that limit how much local governments can raise in property taxes.

Even though the collective bargaining tools are designed to help governments save on the personnel side, they don’t offset the cutbacks in most cases.

Walworth County Administrator Dave Bretl said that in the grand scheme of things, Walworth County’s situation is simply a continuation of a years-long trend. However, shared revenues don’t affect Walworth County nearly as much as many other counties or most municipalities.

Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget targeted nearly $67,000 in cuts for Walworth County, but the final numbers dropped to $33,395.

“I don’t want to be cavalier, but this isn’t significant with a county budget of $150 million,” Bretl said of the original projected cut in revenue sharing. “We’ve had a long history of revenue sharing cuts in Wisconsin, and ours have been reduced so many times. All things considered, we’re better off than our counterparts such as in Rock County. A bigger impact for us is the tax levy cap.”

That goes for the four cities in the county, but they’ll also feel the crunch of less state aid coming from Madison ... CONTINUED