Governor Evers signs shared revenue bill

Wisconsin State Governor Tony Evers has signed the somewhat controversial Shared Revenue Bill after a prolonged discussion and compromise between Evers and the legislative Republicans. Although this bill is not making anyone completely happy, it does involve a very large increase in shared revenue flowing to local governments throughout the state. 

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau writeup of the bill is attached below, and includes the amount of shared revenue increase flowing to every local government in the state. The increases vary greatly by government entity. 

In a press release this morning Evers welcomed the increase in revenue sharing and that the bill will keep Milwaukee from falling off of a fiscal cliff (though it still in many ways treats Milwaukee differently than the rest of the state). 

“To me, the issue of shared revenue has always been about doing the right thing for Wisconsin. I began working on this when I took office four years ago, and that effort began for me with this simple truth: that for far too long, our local communities have been expected to do more with less,” said Gov. Evers. “Local partners for years have had to make impossible decisions, forced to choose between paying for first responders, addressing PFAS, fixing the roads, and other critical priorities that affect the health, safety, and well-being of folks across our state. 

“I believe the state should be doing its part to support our local partners and ensure our communities have the resources they need to meet basic and unique needs alike, period, and I’ve always believed that supporting our local communities is an area where we could work to find common ground and bipartisan support, and that’s exactly what we did.”