Scott Walker's plan includes ratcheting down taxes to the point where everything will suffer from deferred maintenance. Want to fix a road, cut school funding. Or do what other communities are doing, going back to dirt and gravel roads.
The Republicans freeloaders in this state are fine wearing out the legacy projects from generations past. It was owed to them I guess. From WISC Channel3000:
The League of Wisconsin Municipalities estimates local governments will spend $12 million beyond their budgets on road repairs this year. Beloit alone is estimating they'll need a couple hundred grand to cover unexpected costs.
If that total statewide tops $18 million, they can ask for FEMA disaster funds. Until then they're asking the state for help.
"Because we have a levy limit that does not allow for us to pay for this or raise taxes the only way you can pay for this in a city like ours is to take it out of something else so some other service is not handled," said John Dickert, mayor of Racine and president of the Urban Alliance.
The other option is "wheel taxes"- a local vehicle registration fee that goes on top of your $75 car registration. It can only be used for streets and related expenses, and it isn't in a lot of places yet. But it's coming, and it's directly due to Scott Walker's cuts and property tax limitations.
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