Gov. Jim Doyle's office said today the budget he signs on Monday will include a two-year property tax freeze that will limit levy increases to 2 percent or the net change in new construction, whichever is higher.
“Governor Doyle said in February that he wanted to have a responsible property tax freeze in Wisconsin, and through his veto he’s been able to deliver on that promise,” said Doyle communications director Dan Leistikow.
According to the governor's office, the average Wisconsin homeowner will see no change on their '05 tax bill, and $5 decrease on their '06 tax bill. Those numbers compare to a $119 average annual increase from 2000 to 2004.
Leistikow said the governor’s freeze resolves the growing tension between schools and property taxpayers, providing significant relief without hurting the quality of school systems or local services. He also said the governor’s proposal is fairer to local governments than the Republican proposal because it allows them to increase levies by at least 2 percent to keep up with the rising costs of utilities and inflation.
The governor’s office also claims his freeze will save businesses in the state over $270 million.
See a
fact sheet on the freeze from Doyle's office.
The governor called legislative leadership this morning to fill in details about his freeze plan.
Assembly Speaker John Gard said Doyle conveniently didn’t talk about school funding today, and said legislative Republicans will likely try to override any attempt he makes to shift medical assistance money into other programs. And he paid the governor a backhanded compliment.
“I’m obviously pleased that he’s signing the gas tax cut and the Social Security tax cut, and I think we’re making progress on property taxes,” Gard said of Doyle. “I think he’s slowly getting it.”
Gard said he’ll wait until he sees the language in the property tax freeze before talking about an override.
“We’ve got to see how that all works,” he said. “I think people expect a property tax freeze to mean their taxes won’t increase, and that’s not the case under the Doyle plan. We sent him a freeze, and he’s sending him back some slush.”
Gard has a problem with provisions in the governor’s freeze that exempt technical colleges, which he says is the fastest growing piece of people’s property tax bills. “We made progress but there are some loopholes here you could drive a fleet of Schneider trucks through,” he said.
Todd Allbaugh, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz, said Schultz will reserve comment for when he sees the full budget document. "I think it sounds like Gov. Doyle wants to be the Sally Field of Wisconsin," said Allbaugh. "He wants to travel the state on tax dollars and say, 'You like me. You really like me.' And the fact is you cannot be the best friend of the teacher's union and a defender of property taxpayers. The Republican Senate has chosen the taxpayers."
Alliance of Cities Rich Eggleston spokesman said of the governor’s freeze, “We’re happy we didn’t get what republicans put in budget, but not happy with what governor’s putting in budget.”
Eggleston said the freeze “treats different cities in different ways and provides very difficult choices.”
For some cities the freeze will have little effect, and for others it will hurt deeply, said Eggleston, particularly those cities that used one-time money to hold down their tax levy, like Green Bay and De Pere.
“If you’re a city official and your choice is creating a TIF and laying off police and firefighters, what are you going to do? Probably keep the police and firefighters and forego development. This is not going to help grow Wisconsin. On the other hand, the Republican proposal would have been even worse.”
Eggleston added, “I think he’s in a very tough spot politically, and he took a bad proposal and he made it a little better, but what happened was neither the Legislature or the governor provided any of the tax reform or the cost reform that we need, so I hope when the Legislature comes back this fall they address this unfinished business.”
One mayoral aide reached for comment acknowledged the tight political spot Doyle is in.
“He’s doing the best he can with the cards he was dealt,” said a mayoral aide. “What he’s doing clearly better than what the Republicans passed.” The aide said he would have preferred to governor to sign a bill that tied the freeze to regional growth, as Doyle had originally proposed.
Leistikow said Doyle also would have preferred to sign a freeze with the regional approach he included in his original budget, “but it just wasn’t an option given his partial veto power.”
