Feb 5, 2025, 6:23 AM CST
APPLETON, WI- (WGBW) – With just two weeks until Governor Tony Evers presents his budget to lawmakers and citizens, Northeast Wisconsin lawmakers are sounding off on what to do with the over $4 billion surplus the state is sitting on.
Kristin Dassler-Alfheim (D-Appleton), the state senator from District 18; Lori Palmeri (D-Oshkosh), representative of Assembly District 54; and Ron Tusler (R-Appleton), representative of Assembly District 3, participated in a Legislative Town Hall Monday night.
After answering questions on everything from affordable housing to PFAs to the childcare shortage to school funding, they addressed the budget surplus and what they would like to see happen with the over $4 billion in funds.
Rep. Palmeri said using the surplus to help fund things like affordable housing, childcare, clean drinking and clean recreational water, and education are all good ideas.
“Many people will talk about “one-time funding.” So we have to be very wise with how that money could be used,” Palmeri said. “So there are endless possibilities. But might there be some very impactful and strategic ways that that could be used to get costs down for working Wisconsin families…we have to think about how those dollars can be spent in a way that is impactful for future generations.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Tusler said the best way to help Wisconsin families would be to give the surplus back to them in the form of tax cuts.
“Tax cuts. Tax cuts. Tax cuts. We’ve got to give this money back. A surplus is just an overtaxing. We’ve over-taxed you.” said Tusler. “This is not the state’s money. We didn’t earn this money. We taxed this money. That’s different. We’ve got to give this money back to the people that earned it.”
Tusler suggested a middle-class tax cut. He has proposed legislation to protect tips and retirement income from taxing.
Senator Dassler-Alfheim said the state has a surplus not on accident or because the math was wrong but because the state has stopped funding that it used to, instead relying on school districts, municipalities, and taxpayers to come up with the funds.
“Out of our pockets, we’re funding referendum after referendum. And property taxes are going sky-high. That’s because that big surplus used to be funding these programs,” Dassler-Alfheim said. “And now we as taxpayers are making decisions to do it ourselves. If we want more police officers, perhaps we should be funding our municipalities at the level we used to so we can afford more officers.”
The legislative town hall event was sponsored by the League of Women Voters Appleton-Fox Cities and the League of Women Voters Winnebago County.
