Focus Newsletter
Focus Newsletter Municipal Street Quality: A Bumpier Ride?
July 2, 2018 • Vol. 18 No. 12
$2.50 per issue
Street quality in Wisconsin municipalities has declined modestly over the past seven years. From 2010 to 2017, the share of high-quality roads has declined while the share of moderate-quality roads has increased, with the trend most... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - May 22, 2018 • Vol. 2018 No. 10Local governments turn to âwheel taxesâ as other revenues lag
In recent years, Wisconsin has seen a sudden increase in local governments establishing new vehicle registration fees. A local vehicle registration fee—otherwise known as a “wheel tax”—is an annual charge in... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - April 27, 2018 • Vol. 2018 No. 8Is Municipal Debt Rising Too Fast?
Recent Wisconsin Policy Forum research finds stressful levels of capital debt in Milwaukee and Racine that are exacerbating other fiscal pressures. A review of other Wisconsin municipalities shows that debt levels are rising across the... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - April 13, 2018 • Vol. 7Foxconn could bring big changes to transportation, transit
The planned Foxconn manufacturing complex in Racine County is requiring state and local leaders to rethink long-standing policies about infrastructure, jobs, economic development, and municipal service boundaries. At the recent... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - March 23, 2018 • Vol. 2018 No. 6AFRs and CAFRs, Surpluses and Deficits
Two key financial documents appear to paint conflicting pictures of state finances in 2017. Accounting differences explain much of the discrepancy between a positive $579 million budgetary balance reported in the AFR and a negative $1.6... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - March 14, 2018 • Vol. 2018 No. 5On the ballot: The fate of Wisconsinâs state treasurer
The April 3rd election ballot asks voters to consider amending the state constitution to abolish the state treasurer’s office. In recent decades, lawmakers and the governor have transferred most of the treasurer’s duties... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - February 23, 2018 • Vol. 2018 No. 4Wisconsin's Teacher Workforce: Trends in supply and turnover
Staffing figures from the Department of Public Instruction show a spike in the number of teachers leaving the workforce following 2011 Act 10. In recent years, that number has returned to “normal” and districts have been... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - February 13, 2018 • Vol. 2018 No. 3Spring elections in Wisconsin
Turnout for Wisconsin’s nonpartisan spring elections tends to be about half that for fall partisan races. The drop-off may be due in part to a lack of competitive races for county, city, village, town, and school board offices.... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - January 24, 2018 • Vol. 2018 No. 2School Finance: Here vs. elsewhere
A recently announced legislative task force will spend 2018 studying Wisconsin’s school funding formula, which has not undergone major change for about 25 years. The committee will explore issues of both equity and adequacy, areas... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - January 15, 2018 • Vol. 2018 No. 1Welcome to the Wisconsin Policy Forum
The merger of Wisconsin’s two oldest and most-respected nonpartisan policy research groups creates a new organization with broader research capabilities and an enhanced communications platform. The mission, however, remains the... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - December 18, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 25Property taxes 2017-18 (II): County levies, state totals projected
WISTAX estimates that total statewide property taxes will rise about 1.8% to almost $11 billion (b). After subtracting state property tax credits from this total, net levies are expected to grow 1.1% to $9.9b. Counties, which account... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - December 15, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 24Property taxes 2017-18 (I): K-12 schools and technical colleges
Local education accounts for almost half of property taxes levied. December 2017 tax bills payable in 2018 show that the statewide levy for schools is increasing 1.8% to $4.95 billion. The technical college tax is much smaller ($446.6... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - December 12, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 23New budget change: State income, sales taxes go to support lottery
A little-noticed 2017-19 state budget item provides $48 million in general fund taxes to pay part of the state lottery’s expenses. Reducing lottery costs boosts the funds it has available for property tax relief to a 20-year... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - November 8, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 22State spending: Largest and fastest-growing programs
State general fund spending increases averaged 2.7% per year during 2011-17 compared to 2.3% during 2001-17, a period that included the “great recession.” Over half of spending goes for aids to local governments. The largest... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - October 23, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 21New Census figures enable state-local spending comparisons
Total spending by state and local governments in Wisconsin claimed 20.0% of personal income, 21st highest, compared to the U.S. average of 19.2%. The highest share of income went to various public welfare programs (4.7%, 15th),... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - October 17, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 20State-local taxes: Wisconsinâs place in the 50-state pecking order
According to Census Bureau figures just out for 2015, Wisconsin’s state-local tax burden has drifted down from ranking third in 1994 to 21st in 2015. The state relies principally on three taxes: a largely local property tax, a... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - October 6, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 19Pulling fingers from the property-tax pie: Tax reform in Wisconsin
While Washington loudly talks the tax reform talk, with no promise of success, Wisconsin has quietly walked the property-tax reform walk by eliminating any state use of the tax and positioning it to end technical college and personal... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - September 27, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 18First look âunder the hoodâ (II): New 2017-19 state budget
Disputes over transportation funding were the major factor in delaying the 2017-19 state budget. While the new budget reduces highway borrowing compared to prior budgets, it spends down most of a $145 million surplus, taps the general... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - September 26, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 17First look âunder the hoodâ (I): New 2017-19 state budget
After a summer-long delay, Wisconsin has a new biennial budget. Before vetoes, it increases general fund spending 8.5% from an estimated $31.32 billion (b) in 2015-17 to $34.0b in 2017-19. The budget devotes about $2b in new revenues... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - August 30, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 16Rare survey: City-village officials speak out on finances, jobs, and the future
With 600 cities and villages in Wisconsin, little was known about the challenges they collectively face until WISTAX surveyed them in 2016 and again in 2017. With state government freezing local aids, at best, and imposing limits on... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - August 17, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 15New federal figures: School spending trends inform, surprise
For years, Wisconsin has spent more per pupil on K-12 schools than the U.S. Newly released Census figures for 2015 show that Wisconsin dipped below the national average for the first time in memory. But they also show that, when fringe... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - August 10, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 17Parting of the ways: Diverging growth in county property values
Preliminary 2017 market values for Wisconsin property are out from the state. A decade after the last recession, statewide "equalized values" have finally surpassed their 2008 peak. However, the recovery is spotty: In 29... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - July 27, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 13While Washington slept: Experts see coming crises in U.S. entitlements, debt
Attention focused on the short-term fate of "Obamacare," while reports on the troubled future of larger retirement and health programs and the federal budget went unnoticed. Social Security and Medicare trust funds will be... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - July 6, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 12A late state budget: Pending issues, past history, and national context
In the last 40 years, almost all state budgets have cleared the legislature's budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance (JCF) by now, yet the tax-and-spending plan for 2017-19 remains in JCF hands. Wisconsin is one of eight states... Read More
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Focus Newsletter - June 12, 2017 • Vol. 2017 No. 11Values of existing homes still below 2008 in many parts of state
With the 2008 recession, the combined market value of all property in the state fell for five consecutive years before starting a recovery in 2014. By 2016, commercial and manufacturing values were both above 2008 levels by 6.7% and... Read More