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But there might be a problem in the bill for local governments — and it’s a provision that was thrown into the bill at the last minute and doesn’t even address the deficit.
The provision started out as
Senate Bill 403. It would change the way the state de
als with low-income housing in ways that one local government organization contends could create new tax exemptions for low-income housing — and shift the tax burden to already tax-stressed private homeowners.
The Wisconsin Alliance of Cities issued a news
release Tuesday that said the provision in the budget bill “puts local budgets across the state at dire risk.”
Ed Huck, executive director of the 40-city group, said, “This doesn’t belong in a budget bill, and it doesn’t belong in a bill that has not re
ceived a public hearing and cannot
be amended by the Legislature.”
The budget bill, a compromise proposal, emerged from a conference committee made up of representatives from both houses of the Legislature. Under legislative rules, conference committee b
ills cannot be amended, and must be approved in an up-or-down vote.
That made it impossible for the Legislature to do anything about this proposal.
We don’t know what, if any, impact the plan would have on local budgets. There is no fiscal estimate, and i
t is unclear what the bill would do.
But Gov. Jim Doyle should veto the entire provision anyway. The original bill died because assessors from around the state contended that it had not been given sufficient study. If this plan can’t make it as a stand-
alone bill, it has no business being part of a budget bill that must pass and cannot be amended.
Given that uncertainty, and the potential high stakes for local taxpayers, Gov. Doyle should use his line-item veto and eliminate the entire provision from th
e budget repair bill.
If it’s an issue that has merit, legislators can deal with it in a later session, when there is plenty of time to assess its true impact.
