Wisconsin
Breaking down the economics of Green Bay hosting the NFL draft, WI legalizing weed and La Crosse Schools’ budget with Adam Hoffer
Economist Adam Hoffer stopped in the WIZM studio for La Crosse Talk to help break down the economics of the NFL draft coming to Green Bay. We also dived into the hundreds of millions of dollars Wisconsin is losing out on by not legalizing weed, and we hit on the La Crosse School District’s budget situation.
La Crosse Talk airs weekdays at 6-8 a.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk wherever you get your podcasts.
Hoffer works in excise tax — otherwise known as sin tax, like weed, alcohol, cigarettes — for the Tax Foundation and he used to teach sports economics at UW-La Crosse. Plus, he ran for school board, so he’s got all those numbers fresh in his head.
We began there, as Hoffer breaks down the budget situation for La Crosse Schools, after voters passed a $53.5 million referendum to build a new elementary school and close three others.
After that, we spent some time on what Wisconsin is missing out on by not legalizing marijuana. In 2022, Illinois raked in $36 million in tax revenue from Wisconsin residents buying weed there.
Finally, we ended the show talking about Green Bay hosting the NFL draft, and beginning with some numbers from the state agency, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) saying the state will get $90 million in economic impact — $20 million of that in Green Bay — from the draft. And, we simply asked Hoffer, is that propaganda? The conclusion he gets me to though is interesting.
Bill
April 24, 2025 at 11:01 am
Solem is always concerned with the status of marijuana legalization, telling us how much revenue Wisconsin is missing by not making the drug legal.
The only people I hear stumping for legalization are regular users.
walden
April 24, 2025 at 8:51 pm
Payroll accounts for 85% of the District’s budget. Until employee headcount is right-sized to the 20% decrease in students, budget problems will persist. The budget problems are the result of a choice made by the District to do nothing instead of actively managing staff.
Roy
April 25, 2025 at 8:39 am
Liberals and the liberal teachers will always answer that we “finally have a proper students-to-teacher ratio” since the student population is smaller and all teachers have been retained. Any further student-to-teacher reduction will only be better, in their mind. It’s “for the kids”, you know.
And if spending exceeds state aid, we can always go back to referendum.
The voting majority running the La Crosse School Board agrees with all this.
It’s for the kids, you know.