Secretary, DER
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State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
March 26, 1996
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
We have completed financial audits of the Mendota and Winnebago Mental Health Institutes for fiscal year 1994-95. We were able to provide unqualified opinions on the institutes' financial statements.
Copies of the audit reports have been distributed to members of the Joint Legislative Audit committee and those required by law to receive them. If you are interested in receiving a copy of the audit reports, please contact our office and request report numbers 96-3 and 96-4.
Sincerely,
Dale Cattanach
State Auditor
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Social Services
Madison
March 27, 1996
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
Enclosed is a copy of the Annual Wisconsin Report on Child Abuse and Neglect pursuant to s.48.981. The report includes a full statistical analysis of suspected child abuse and neglect reports received by county child protective services agencies in 1994. This report describes the extent of abuse and neglect in Wisconsin and discusses steps Wisconsin has taken to address the needs of maltreated children and their families.
Sincerely,
Joe Leean
Secretary, DHSS
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
March 29, 1996
To To the Honorable, the Legislature:
I have enclosed a copy of the State of Wisconsin's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1995. The CAFR represents Wisconsin's commitment in providing high standards of financial management and reporting, and fiscal accountability of its resources based on nationally recognized standards.
I am pleased to announce that the auditor's report included in the 1995 CAFR contains an unqualified opinion. This is a first for the State and is a result of much hard work over the years by many State agency accountants. I wish to congratulate each of you for this significant achievement.
If you have specific questions regarding the CAFR's contents, please contact Marilyn Klement at (608) 266-3052.
Sincerely,
William J. Raftery, CPA
State Controller
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Corrections
Madison
April 5, 1996
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
Section
303.019, Wisconsin Statutes, directs that "the Department of Corrections and administration shall report on a quarterly basis, except for the last quarter in a fiscal year, to the Joint committee on Finance providing a cash balance summary for each prison industry and a projected fiscal year-end profit and loss statement for the prison industry program...".
Attached are the "Projected Accrual Profit and Loss Statement" and "Year to Date Cash Balance Summary by Industry" for the period ending December 31, 1995.
Prison Industries had a cash deficit of $1.3 million through the second quarter ending December 31, 1995. Actual year-to-date expenditures were $8,146,800. These expenditures reflect approximately $685,000 in expenditures related to the previous fiscal year (FY 95) as directed by Joint Finance in an October 26, 1995 s.13.10 meeting.
Revenues for the same time period were $6,619,000. Prison Industries has adequate fixed assets, inventories and receivables to cover the overdraft.
The projected profit on the accrual basis for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1996 is $200,000.
Sincerely,
Michael J. SulLivan
Secretary, DOC
James R. Klauser
Secretary, DOA
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Development
Madison
April 8, 1996
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
In accordance with s.
560.03(15), the Department of Development is required to submit an annual report to the legislature analyzing the use of IRB financing authorized under Section
66.521 of Wisconsin Statutes, and report on the benefits of that use. The Department of Development is also required to submit a summary of the employment impact estimates required under Section
560.034(2) of Wisconsin Statutes.
I am respectfully submitting the attached Industrial Revenue Bond Activity Report. If you have any questions concerning the report or would like to obtain copies, please contact Deb Daly in the Division of Community Development at 608/267-3895.
Sincerely,
William J. McCoshen
Secretary, DOD
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Agriculture, Trade
and Consumer Protection
Madison
April 11, 1996
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
We are pleased to submit to you a copy of the 1995 annual report on the 76 Wisconsin County and District Fairs receiving state aid. This report is prepared by the Department in accordance with the requirements contained in section 93.23(1)(h), Wisconsin Statutes.
This report is a detailed statement showing receipts and disbursements of each fair receiving state aid, together with a classified statement of premiums paid and the amount of state aid claimed.
If you have any questions relative to this report, please call Bob Williams, Fairs Coordinator, at 608/224-5131.
Sincerely,
Alan Tracy
Secretary, DATCP
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
April 17, 1996
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
We have completed an evaluation of the methodology used to determine the workload of Wisconsin circuit court judges and the need for additional positions, as requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. Circuit court judges were transferred from county to state employment in 1980 by Chapter
449, Wisconsin Laws of 1977.
Currently, there are 233 authorized full-time equivalent circuit court judgeships. In fiscal year 1994-95, the State's circuit court expenditures totaled $56.9 million. Although position requests are typically made by the Director of State Courts, the judiciary is significantly involved in the request-development process. While the Director of State Courts uses a measure of reasonable judicial workload to identify circuits in need of additional positions, to be included in the position request a circuit is expected to have support from the affected county and the chief judges of the state's ten judicial districts.
We found that Wisconsin's methodology for measuring judicial workload is capable of providing objective and comparable information on the need for additional judges. However, a recent update of the methodology is incomplete and needs changes to yield reliable results. We include a number of recommendations to increase confidence in the results of the workload measure. These include expanding the size of the data sample used to estimate the time required to hear cases, improving reporting to make data more comparable among counties, and recognizing differences in administration and legal research activities for different case types. Once the estimates of case times are improved, they could be used to evaluate whether different case weights should be established for large and small counties.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the Office of the Director of State Courts, circuit court judges, and court staff throughout the state. The response of the Director of State Courts is Appendix IV.
Sincerely,
dale cattanach
State Auditor
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REFERENCE BUREAU CORRECTIONS
Assembly Joint Resolution 59
In enrolling, the following correction was made:
1. Page 2, line 3: substitute "senate" for "Senate".
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Assembly Joint Resolution 85
In enrolling, the following correction was made:
1. Page 2, line 11: on lines 11 and 16, delete "That:" and substitute "That".