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| Wisconsin Corrections needs fix |
| By wausaudailyherald.com |
| Published: 06/10/2011 |
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Wisconsin has had an ongoing problem. Our Legislature spends more than it takes in as revenues. Wisconsin ranks 13th among the states on state and local taxes, so our deficit problem is not because our taxes are too low. For spending, more than half was for education and welfare. Wisconsin spending ranks relatively high, compared to other states, in corrections (11th ), according to the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. The Republicans' so-called budget reform legislation, although controversial, has done nothing significantly to reduce state spending. Republican ideas center on forcing schools and municipalities to stop negotiating with their unions, which has no impact on the state deficit. Wisconsin's correctional system includes more than 18 institutions and costs more than $1 billion per year. So far, nothing has been proposed to reduce overspending on Corrections. In fact, in some ways, the majority party has found ways to make things worse. Corrections was Wisconsin's seventh-largest general fund expenditure 22 years ago. Twenty years later, it was Wisconsin's fourth largest expenditure. Over two decades, corrections spending grew more than 2.5 times as fast as other expenditures. For comparison, it was 133.9 percent higher than Minnesota's, which has a similar population. Read More. |
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