CHICAGO - Wisconsin's revenue collections fell about 2% short of previous estimates for fiscal 2014, or about $281 million, state officials reported in August.
The update to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau's estimates came from Department of Revenue. Democrats used the latest figures to argue that Gov. Scott Walker has pained too rosy a picture of state finances.
Walker, a Republican, and the GOP-controlled Legislature have enacted $2 billion in tax cuts over the last three years including $500 million this past spring, trumpeting the state's fiscal picture in re-election efforts.
Walker faces Democrat challenger Mary Burke, a businesswoman and former state official, in the November contest. All Assembly seats are up for re-election and 17 of 33 Senate seats also are on the ballot.
In a statement, Burke said the numbers expose "once again how fiscally irresponsible Gov. Walker has been."
Walker campaign officials countered that Burke would embrace fiscal policies of the past that led to budget gaps.
The current two-year budget that runs through June 2015 was previously projected to end with a balance of $165 million. The new figures would put the state in the red. Walker's administration noted that 10 months remain in the fiscal year and projections could rise. Past projections have warned that the state faces a $600 million hole in its next two year budget cycle.
Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's assign AA ratings to the state's general obligation debt while Moody's Investors Service rates it Aa2. The state last year also received a first-time rating from Kroll Bond Ratings Agency of AA. All four assign a stable outlook to the state's $8 billion of general obligation bonds.
