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Dozens of officials from all levels of government gathered at Central High School to hear predictions about what will happen if a state constitutional amendment is passed to limit government spending.
They also heard local legislators' positions and predictions about the bill, known as TABOR.
The concept of the amendment is to limit new spending to inflation plus population growth or new construction.
If inflation were 2 percent and population grew 2 percent, spending could increase 4 percent.
La Crosse schools would have to cut 42 positions a year, the city of La Crosse would have to cut 56 positions and Western Wisconsin Technical College would have to cut 30 positions, officials said.
"TABOR is a five-second sound bite," County Adminis-trator Steve O'Malley said.
O'Malley said he's concerned that the complexity of what TABOR really means to local communities won't be part of the debate.
He's also concerned that the constitution is the wrong place to set fiscal policy for the state.
State Rep. Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said TABOR is based on the idea that government taxes people enough.
"I believe the taxpayers would say you've got enough of my money. You figure out how to spend it," Huebsch said.
If regular taxpayers were at the meeting, "They'd say cry me a river," said Huebsch. "They'd say look what happened to my family budget."
A recent poll conducted by a group supporting the bill found that 74 percent supported government spending controls, and 65 percent still supported it when told what government cuts it would cause, Huebsch said.
State Rep. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, said the proposed amendment "isn't a taxpayer bill of rights, it's a taxpayer bill of wrongs."
Shilling said Wisconsin is "a high tax state," but said the taxpayers get something valuable for their money like high school test scores, good roads, safe neighborhoods and beautiful parks.
"This is bad news," Shilling said. "We want to be a leader in education. We don't want to follow Colorado and California."
It's possible the Wisconsin Legislature could vote on the bill yet this summer, but state Sen. Mark Meyer, D-La Crosse, said he doubts there will be action before next year.
The Legislature must pass the bill over two successive sessions before the amendment can go to voters for approval by a simple majority.
Gov. Jim Doyle has no ability to veto the bill, and some believe Republicans are pushing TABOR because Doyle vetoed their earlier plan to freeze property taxes.
The final wording of the bill is being worked on behind closed doors by legislative leaders. Huebsch said he's not part of those meetings, and believes the debate about TABOR should be out in the open.
Huebsch said he's open to indexing spending growth to growth in Wisconsin residents' personal income rather than inflation, which some observers believe would make the restrictions less severe.
Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.
