2007-2008 Issues
IMPLEMENT THE REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INCENTIVE (REDI)
The Wisconsin Alliance of Cities proposes that state shared revenue be supplemented with a new revenue sharing proposal. Under the Regional Economic Development Incentive (REDI), both state and local governments would share in economic growth.
Cities are the backbone of job creation in Wisconsin and the barometer of how well our regional economies are doing.
The state Task Force on State and Local Government in January 2003 urged that state policy recognize “the reality that Wisconsin’s economic strength begins in the (state’s) communities and regions, and that regions compete globally.”
To give our citizens a leg up on global competition, the Alliance of Cities calls for creation of a Regional Economic Development Incentive (REDI) that would for the first time link growth in state aid to growth in personal income — to more and better jobs for our citizens.
| The new incentive payment would be divided into two
appropriations:
25% to increase the base from the old shared revenue program.
This would provide every community an increase in non-property
tax revenues as personal income within its region increases. The idea is that if local governments work together to increase personal income, the entire region benefits. Our recommended regions are based on the U.S Office of Management and Budget’s definition of “core-based statistical areas,” which include one or more counties, including a county containing a core urban area, as well as any adjacent counties that have a high degree of social and economic integration.
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