Alliance Approves New Approach to Shared Revenue

Mayor Seider New  President

Alliance 2005-2006 Agenda Set

Momentum Toward Colorado-Like Debacle?

Upcoming Events

Alliance members back regional revenue sharing

By Rich Eggleston

SHEBOYGAN  — Members of the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities meeting in Sheboygan Sept. 10 unanimously adopted a plan to distribute new shared revenue money within 13 regions of the state that are economically and socially linked, drawing attention to their common interests and fostering regional cooperation and economic growth.

The new plan is aimed at giving communities an incentive to plan together and cooperate in building the economy in their part of the state, rather than compete for growth.

The plan endorsed in Sheboygan seeks no existing money from the state. In addition, every city, village and town in the state would be a winner. There would be no losers.

We'll be briefing legislative leaders and Gov. Jim Doyle's top people on the plan shortly, and then we'll make it public.

"In a state where communities often seem far more interested in turf and competition than in sharing and cooperation, the alliance's proposal could provide a necessary boost to the latter," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote. "It is also in accord with at least three state-appointed task forces that have suggested a regional approach to delivering key municipal services, as well as ongoing efforts by some folks throughout the state to promote such approaches." Editorial here.

Regional cooperation also got high marks from city leaders in Sheboygan, as did one of the Alliance of Cities' long-held principles: equalization. Equalization is the concept that an individual should pay about the same for basic government services whether he or she lives in a rich community or a poor one. By preserving the existing shared revenue program as a base, the Alliance plan not only avoids creating losers, it  preserves the state's commitment to equalization. Although regional revenue sharing does part of the job of equalization, it is not as equalizing as the statewide shared revenue program, Myron Orfield and Thomas Luce found in their 1999 study for the Alliance, Wisconsin Metropatterns.

Alliance Approves Next Session's Agenda

By Rich Eggleston

In addition to approving a first step toward regional revenue sharing, Alliance city leaders Sept. 10 approved an ambitious agenda that addresses the four "R's" the organization embraced last session:

• Reduce the cost of government;
• Reduce property taxes;
• Reform government;
• Revitalize Wisconsin's economy.

A fifth "R" emerged from our meetings with city leaders around the state:

• Regional problem solving.

We believe that the centerpiece of the Alliance's agenda, regional revenue sharing, represents a significant step to revitalize Wisconsin's economy. Even though it would start as a modest program and leave in place the state's equitable and proven shared revenue program, it would start people thinking about the regional economies that together form Wisconsin's overall state economy, and jumpstart them to work together to build our regional economies.

Also, many of the recommendations embrace more than one of the "R's." To state the obvious, it's hard to solve problems regionally or reform government without reducing the cost of government. Wisconsin's persistent and troublesome Double Whammy problem — in which some citizens receive a single governmental service but are billed for two — is the perfect example, and it remains the top issue of our city leaders as a group.

The 39 individual proposals, grouped into seven broad areas that build on the "Four R's," embrace both big ideas and smaller ones. But all would make Wisconsin state and local governments work better and more efficiently for our citizens, and ultimately make Wisconsin a better place to live.

For the complete Alliance agenda, click here.

Wisconsin Professional Police Assn.
Cops' Plan: a $115 million downer

Members of the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities voted unanimously in Sheboygan to oppose a plan by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association (WPPA) to cut shared revenues $115 million, with public protection getting a bigger share of remaining money than any other function of local government.

"We don't believe all local government functions are equal," WPPA consultant Morris Andrews asserted during a briefing on the plan for the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities. The police union's  20 recommendations to the Senate Select Committee on State and Local Relations include 18 mandates on county and local governments, mostly to consolidate services at the county level, plus the union's rewritten shared revenue formula and a new fee of $25 on attorneys every time they make a court appearance. The 20 recommendations are here.

The initial reaction from Mike Screnock, finance director for the City of Ashland, was that the plan, before a token equalization component was added back in, would cost Ashland more than $2.1 million, equal to 81% of the city's entire 2004 municipal levy.

"This proposal would eliminate shared revenue funding to almost 1/2 of the cities and over 90% of the villages statewide," Screnock said in an e-mail. "I think that you might be able to count on one hand the jurisdictions north of Highway 8 that would qualify for an aid payment, but it might take both hands. With an impact that would be this drastic, it would seem that legislative approval would be very difficult."

Andrews and Palmer said 52 of 54 urban towns would be big winners. But overall, they said, the plan would shake out as follows:

WPPA represents about 10,000 police officers in the state and serves as a fraternal and union organization. News media reported that the group's executive director was fired earlier this year after an audit uncovered iregularities.

TABOR Momentum Building? It is "virtually certain" that something akin to TABOR will be enacted in Wisconsin,  Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley said Tuesday, Sept. 21. "In his annual budget address to the Waukesha County Board, Finley referred to elections last week and the emergence of new legislative leaders intent on revisiting the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. "Whatever you want to call it, that will come to pass," Finley said. That represents a "great spectre" over his $254 million budget, he added. Story here. Senate leader promises TABOR vote Newly elected Senate Majority L:eader Scott Fitzgerald told the Waukesha Freeman that a TABOR proposal will see its first-ever consideration on the floor of the Wisconsin Legislature next session. Although Assembly Speaker John Gard asserted that he had votes for a TABOR-like plan in the Assembly, he never brought it up. Fitzgerald was elected Senate GOP leader Sept. 17 after Sen. Mary Panzer (R-West Bend) lost a primary election after concluding there were not enough votes in the Senate for a TABOR proposal. "There will be a vote on TABOR in this next legislative session," Fitzgerald vowed. He also said he would like to push through a property tax freeze measure in lieu of TABOR, because a constitutional amendment takes so long to enact. Story here. Background on Colorado's fiscal situation Newspapers in Colorado have been full of reports lately on Colorado's state finances, and how TABOR is affecting that state's fiscal outlook. We've received, courtesy of Jim Zelenski of the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute,  the state memos on which the news stories are based. Unfortunately, one of the state government folks in Colorado likes neat graphics, and produced such a large report (2.7 megabytes) that some e-mail systems find it hard to swallow. So we put the information on the Alliance web site. If you look at the Colorado Legislative Council's report...  http://www.wiscities.org/Colo_Rev_Forecast_9-04.pdf    ...you'll find, in Table 1, that state tax rebates are expected to exceed $800 million by 2009-2010. At the same time, the state will have to cut more than $500 million from its budget to meet TABOR requirements. That figure was  $215 million just three months ago, but the state received new, lower, inflation estimates. "This automatically lowers the allowable revenue under TABOR," Zelenski explains. Jim Zelenski The second document...  http://www.wiscities.org/Colo_Cuts_9-04.pdf     ...from  the chief of staff of the Colorado Joint Budget Committee (Colorado's equivalent of Bob Lang), summarizes state budget cuts since Colorado's economy went sour. "(JBC Chief of Staff John) Ziegler wanted to show that real cuts have been made (contrary to those who say that programs have merely 'grown more slowly'). He also wanted to show that the next round of cuts will be made upon this base - that is, all of the supposed "fat" is long gone from the budget," Zelenski further explained. (emphasis added.) Newspapers in Colorado report that officials in Colorado are so desperate for one-time money to solve their current budget crisis that some are proposing selling state buildings to raise cash, and leasing them back from the buyers.