Bleak 2009 Outlook for Wisconsin's Cities

Not a Pretty Picture Inside

Link to September 13 Superior Daily Telegram post, "Cities feel stress of state budget woes".

Excerpt:
Staff and members of the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities gathered in Superior this week to set priorities for the upcoming state legislative session.

Among the issues discussed was revising the shared revenue formula, and paying for a regional transit system through sales rather than property taxes.

“This 2009 is going to be the worst possible year and the perfect storm is that after all these years of no (shared) revenue increases, we wound up with 2 percent levy limits … created by gubernatorial veto,” said Ed Huck, Wisconsin Alliance of Cities director. “On top of that we’ve had one of the worst winters in terms of snowfall … then on top of that, you had the flooding. So what’s happened is reserves are at rock bottom.”