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As I See It

Cities shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get state help

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There is general agreement among the two political parties that the state of Wisconsin needs to better fund the state’s municipalities. But they differ greatly in how to accomplish that. Governor Evers proposed in his budget sending 20% of the state’s sales tax back to local cities and counties. For decades, municipalities have had to do more with less in order to meet state mandates. Both parties agree that needs to change, now that Wisconsin has a big budget surplus. The Republican plan has a lot more strings than the Governor’s plan. It would provide more aid to cities like La Crosse, but with stipulations. In order to receive more money from the state, La Crosse would have to agree not to cut spending for law enforcement budgets. It would also have to write more citations or arrest more people in order to receive the increased funding. Wisconsin bans police departments from having a quota of traffic citations. If we tie more state funding to the number of tickets written, that would certainly encourage them to write more tickets. Let’s get Wisconsin cities the money they need, and let them decide how best to spend it, based on the needs in their communities.   

Scott Robert Shaw serves as WIZM Program Director and News Director, and delivers the morning news on WKTY, Z-93 and 95.7 The Rock. Scott has been at Mid-West Family La Crosse since 1989, and authors Wisconsin's only daily radio editorial, "As I See It" heard on WIZM each weekday morning and afternoon.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Diane

    May 8, 2023 at 8:47 am

    You won’t get a ticket or arrested, if you’re not breaking the law…….

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