Members of the business community gathered Thursday at the UW Research Park to get questions answered concerning the Doyle administration's upcoming budget plan for 2003-'05, the current emergency budget bill, Doyle's plan for economic growth in Wisconsin and related business concerns.
Commerce Secretary Cory Nettles, incoming Regent and Doyle advisor David Walsh and state Budget Director David Riemer spoke at the forum, entitled \The Doyle Administration View: Growing Wisconsin's New Economy.""
Riemer said the administration's foremost concern is bringing the fiscal budget in order and complimented Doyle on his handling of the financial crisis.
""We are just on our way to balancing this budget. It will get a lot harder and tougher before we get to the end of this.""
Panel members also expressed that a change is needed to jump start Wisconsin's economy by encouraging business and keeping jobs in the state.
""We are a conservative state with a conservative culture, and we are going to take that on. We need to encourage entrepreneurs to take risks and not be afraid to fail,"" Nettles said.
Concerning recent cuts of $2.6 million made to the UW System, Riemer said, ""the most important part of a university is that it is part of a successful state, and that means the budget needs to be balanced. We are not trying to make it hard for students to go to school.""
Walsh explained that the UW System Board of Regents is working on finding funding to help with tuition hikes but UW-Madison is ""probably a better value than what people are paying."" He said he thought current tuition was not very expensive and students should borrow money to pay for the tuition increase.
