Local Leaders Call for Restoring Shared Revenue

City leaders throughout Wisconsin want the governor and state legislature to use a bump in tax revenue to immediately restore nearly $50 million in local government funding.

A May memo from Gov. Scott Walker’s Department of Administration said state tax revenue was set to exceed projections by $126 million. The League of Wisconsin Municipalities’ Dan Thompson says $48 million of that money should go toward restoring shared revenue cuts to local governments in 2011.Thompson says if the state acts quickly the money can be used to lower property tax bills this winter. He acknowledges it’s a long shot, “Well, the conventional wisdom would be that there’s no chance at all of having a special session. I mean that would be conventional wisdom. But I’m not sure we have a conventional governor right now. And I’m not sure we live in conventional times.”

Gov. Walker’s office had no immediate comment. Shared revenue was one of several areas cut in Walker’s first budget, which also slashed money to public schools and the University of Wisconsin.