Rep. Meyers Holds Budget Listening Sessions

Northern Wisconsin lawmakers have been holding listening sessions throughout the region on Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget. They plan to present area residents’ concerns to lawmakers in Madison.

The Joint Finance Committee is holding multiple listening sessions on the 2017-2019 budget. But, State Rep. Beth Meyers, D-Bayfield, said the closest hearing in Spooner is still quite a distance from residents in her district. Meyers said the local listening sessions give people a chance to air their concerns about the budget. She said education, healthcare and transportation are top concerns among residents.

“One of the great things about holding my listening sessions is that I’m hearing about all the other issues that are of concern to my constituents, including things that are happening at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources” she said. “That fact that science isn’t being adhered to and things like high-capacity wells that are taking ground water out of the land at a rate 100,000 gallons a day.”

Meyers said she hopes the Joint Finance Committee will include their testimonies in the decision-making process. Meyers said people from all around Wisconsin deserve to be heard.

“I think it’s extremely important that when Joint Finance is going out on the road and doing their listening sessions that they actually listen to people throughout the state,” she said. “Because the opinion and the voice of someone in Bayfield is as important as someone in Madison or Dodgeville.”

Meyers has held eight listening sessions so far. She’s holding her final three this week in Ashland, Hurley and Lac Du Flambeau.

Meyers will hold a listening session at the Vaughn Public Library in Ashland from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Thursday. She will also be at the Iron County Courthouse in Hurley at 10 a.m. on Friday and an afternoon session will be held at the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council in Lac Du Flambeau.