Foxconn plant could reduce road funding by $90 million

MADISON, Wis. — Funding for state road projects could be reduced as much as $90 million by mid-2019 in order to pay for roadwork related to the $10 billion Foxconn Technology Group plant in southeast Wisconsin.

That’s the determination of the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau in a memo sent to Democratic lawmakers that they released Wednesday.

Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Gordon Hintz says the memo shows that Republican Gov. Scott Walker is prioritizing the Foxconn project over repairing roads elsewhere in the state.

The reduction to pay for roads around the massive Foxconn project is expected to leave the state highway fund as much as $870 million short of the $2.4 billion the state Department of Transportation state was needed to maintain road conditions for the next decade.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported:

According to the DOT, 79 percent of state highways were in fair or better condition as of December 2016. Gov. Scott Walker proposed funding state highways at $1.7 billion in the current budget, which, if maintained at that level for a decade, would have resulted in 61.7 percent of roads being in fair or better condition by July 2028.

However, the Legislature reduced Walker’s proposed funding level to $1.62 billion and the Foxconn road project could reduce it even further to $1.53 billion.

Foxconn is getting around $4.5 billion for its liquid-crystal display screen plant. The company will get up to $3 billion in state tax credits and $764 million in local property tax incentives, along with a $408 million expansion of Interstate 94, to construct a $10 billion plant that might employ as many as 13,000 people.