No budget, big consequences

Released 10/03/07 (Contact Tami Jackson at lakeinfo @ wisconsinlakes.org)

It has been seven months since the first citizen hearings on the budget, and three months since the supposed deadline for state budget adoption has lapsed. Still our legislature has been unable to send a budget packet to the Governor's desk that addresses the diverse needs of our state's natural resources, local governments, and citizens.

Some legislators are now proposing to act on only the highly visible and urgent education and local property tax funding sections of the budget. Allowing legislators to cherry pick only the most politically palatable fruit means the rest of the budget could be put off indefinitely. And that can mean that important funding for natural resource and other issues might be completely neglected.

We need a whole budget for the whole state, not piecemeal tinkering. When legislative jerry rigging occurs, programs that are important to Wisconsin citizen's quality of life are bound to fall off the budgetary jalopy. Wisconsin's number one water quality problem, polluted runoff, is a case in point.

Five years after the legislature passed the nation's first comprehensive polluted runoff rules, the funding promised for farmers to implement common sense practices to control polluted runoff remains woefully neglected. For the first time, the Governor's budget proposal--approved by the legislature's Joint Finance Committee in June--includes a modest proposal of $12 million dollars to help implement the rules. $12 million provides less than 25% of the estimated need; however, the increase in polluted runoff funding is a good down payment towards reducing polluted runoff and helping our lakes, rivers and groundwater. But this and other critical budget proposals are languishing.

Worse, because of the continued failure to pass a budget, changes that should have gone into effect by the July budget deadline which would have generated revenue for this program remain undone. It's deficit spending in reverse. By delaying approving a budget, the time period to generate and collect funds from fees and other sources is reduced. Therefore, the gap between what was promised and what can be delivered continually grows. The longer the delay the more it costs all of us. There are no savings when needed programs remain unfunded and promises made by previous legislatures remain unfulfilled.

“Starving worthy programs doesn’t make them lean and mean, it just kills them,” says Denny Caneff, Executive Director of the River Alliance of Wisconsin. “When will the legislature make good on their promise to help farmers address polluted runoff?"

“In a $50 billion dollar budget, $12 million dollars is a relatively minuscule amount for a needed program that helps farmers be the stewards they want to be,” says Peter Murray, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Association of Lakes. “But for the health and future of our lakes and rivers, that $12 million dollars is a critical investment.”

Our legislators need to pass the budget in its entirety and maintain the conservation budget items—including polluted runoff funding and Stewardship—already approved by the bi-partisan Joint Finance Committee.

Good intentions are not enough; Wisconsin deserves more than empty promises. It’s time to follow through. The legislature needs to do their work and put our money to work for cleaner water.