State agency representatives argued for transportation and tax revenue portions of Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget Wednesday.
Mark Gottlieb, secretary of the Department of Transportation, defended the $1.3 billion in bonds to finance roads in front of the state’s Joint Committee on Finance.
He admitted roads will continue to deteriorate under Walker's proposed plan, but said if legislators reduce the federal government bonds, the deterioration will happen even faster and lead to higher costs for taxpayers in the future.
State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, pointed out that Walker's budget calls for borrowing more money while loans for buying state land for conservation are frozen.
"I just don't know how we can continue to justify bonding," Taylor said. "What are we supposed to say to people who ask us why we continue to borrow and put this problem off for our kids to deal with?"
The Wisconsin Department of Revenue also gave testimony, addressing key issues in balancing economic reforms.
Richard Chandler, the revenue department secretary, spoke on behalf of the agency. He said the proposed budget would allow property taxes to drop to the point of saving an average homeowner $500 by December 2016.
In addition to previous measures adopted to reconcile Wisconsin’s tax code with the federal code, Chandler recommended further considerations for tax simplification.
The most controversial proposal, however, was property assessment reform. This reform would relieve municipalities of their current duty and replace it with a county-based system. The main purpose of doing so is to allow equalization of property assessments to create a more fair and balanced sample.
Chandler said the reform would reduce government size and make it more efficient, effective and accountable.
