CHICAGO - Wisconsin's latest revenue projections are giving state lawmakers little breathing room to avoid cuts in the next two-year budget.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau said in a May 6 report to the Joint Finance Committee that revenue and spending projections remain on target. The committee is currently crafting the legislative version of a budget based off of Gov. Scott Walker's proposal.
The January estimate projected $14.5 billion in collections in the current fiscal year ending June 30, $15.1 billion in the first fiscal year of the next biennium, and $15.7 billion in the second. The new review reflected collections through April.
"On balance, we believe that the current estimates for the three-year period are still reasonable and should not be adjusted," wrote LFB director Robert Lang. The current revenue projections leave the state with a $283 million deficit in the current budget and a $648 million gap in the next.
Walker, expected to make a run for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential race, earlier this year unveiled a $68.2 billion two-year budget that favors borrowing over a higher gas tax to fund transportation projects, included debt service for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena, and cut University of Wisconsin aid.
The budget would tackle the revenue shortfall through various savings initiatives, the merging of some departments, the elimination of 400 positions with about half currently vacant, and other spending reductions — the most notable being a 13% cut of $300 million in public university funding.
The governor also had proposed a $127 million cut in kindergarten through 12th grade funding but the budget is now expected to hold that funding level, possibly by pushing some aid payments into the next budget year, a one-shot maneuver Walker criticized his predecessors for using.
Walker said this week he won't announce his decision on his potential candidacy until after work on the budget is completed.
Democrats said the latest revenue estimates show the state couldn't afford last-year's GOP-sponsored tax cut.
"Republicans have been holding off on any action on their deeply unpopular budget because they thought a dramatic increase in revenue would magically appear to save the day," said Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh. "Unfortunately that hasn't happened. But the real failure is that we should have never been in this position to begin with."
