Wisconsin State Journal: Scott Walker tweets he’ll veto state budget, if it raised property taxes
Gov. Scott Walker, in another sign of escalating tension with fellow Republicans who control the Legislature, vowed Monday to take the unprecedented step of vetoing the entire $76 billion state budget if it raises property taxes on homeowners.
Walker issued the unusual warning publicly on Twitter first on Thursday, via his @GovWalker account, and then again on Mondayin a series of messages defending his budget priorities via his @ScottWalker account. Republicans are considering breaking with Walker in several key areas of the budget, including property taxes, as they continue to debate changes to his two-year spending plan.
Republican Assembly Spea-ker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said he was taken aback by the threat, which he said Walker has never made directly to lawmakers and that Vos only learned of by seeing the tweet.
“I don’t know why he wouldn’t call us instead of acting like Donald Trump and tweeting at us,” Vos said in an interview.
WISC-TV: What Wisconsin’s roads shortfall could mean for taxpayers
The biggest question in the Statehouse is how Gov. Scott Walker and fellow Republicans will resolve a dispute over how to pay for roads.
But often lost in the debate is what the final answer will mean for the pocketbooks of drivers and taxpayers.
Walker wants to borrow more and avoid tax increases. Assembly Republicans wants to increase the price at the pump and borrow less. Senate Republicans are looking at borrowing along with instituting toll roads.
Here is a closer look at where things stand on plugging the projected $1 billion transportation budget hole.
What’s the problem?
The state doesn’t have enough money in its transportation fund to pay for needed road work — it needs about $1 billion more. The fund is built largely on revenue from gas tax and vehicle registration fees, which have dwindled as people drive less and use more fuel efficient vehicles.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: DNR approves sand mining project with large wetlands loss
A timber company’s plans to develop a $65 million sand processing facility between Tomah and Black River Falls that would destroy a large swath of wetlands were approved by the Department of Natural Resources on Friday.
Meteor Timber is proposing to construct a plant and rail transfer site in Monroe County where sand from a nearby mine it owns would be shipped to drillers in Texas and North Dakota, where production is ramping up.
Sand is a key ingredient in fracking and is used under pressure with water to prop open pockets of oil and gas.
Meteor, a large private landowner with extensive forest holdings in the Wisconsin, has touted the economics of the project and its willingness to take extra steps to make up for the loss of wetlands.
Green Bay Press-Gazette: What Brown County expo center debate taught us
Last week’s vote on Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach’s proposal to improve facilities and reduce debt was more than a test of whether supervisors agreed that the county needs to raise and spend $225 million in the coming years.
It provided some clear answers about where the priorities of the county’s elected officials stand midway through Streckenbach’s second term and less than a year before all 26 supervisors’ seats are up for election.
The executive’s plan enables the county to collect $225 million in taxes intended to fund a new expo center near Lambeau Field, upgrade four libraries, expand the jail and pay for millions in road and other projects. To fund that, the county will commit millions of dollars from a tax on hotel and motel guests, while residents will pay an additional 0.5 percent sales tax for six years.
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