We cut spending for most state agencies.
We reduce the number of government positions by 145, excluding the Department of Corrections and the takeover of child welfare in Milwaukee County.
We increase funding for K-12 schools by nearly $400 million over the biennium.
And, most importantly, we keep our commitment to fund two-thirds the cost of local schools. No wavering. No going back.
Those who doubted we could keep this commitment while making major investments in education and our workforce said, ";Show me the money.";
Well here it is. Completely paid for and balanced. Without a general tax increase.
Property taxes
Because we keep our financial commitment to our local schools, property taxes will not increase in Wisconsin and many homeowners will see a property tax cut this December for the second straight year.
Much of the cut can be attributed to a renewed lottery credit. And this tax cut is small, certainly not as dramatic as last year's. But it is a cut. And it represents a sea change in the direction of property taxes in this state, continuing a downward slope that has stretched over four consecutive years. A downward slide made possible by our unwavering commitment to pay two-thirds the cost of local schools and our determination to put cost controls on local school spending.
As a percentage of per capita income, Wisconsin homeowners will have their lowest property tax burden in 45 years -- since before Fred Risser and Tommy Thompson were elected to the Legislature.
We are also providing tax relief for our low-income working families and those who don't yet own homes.
We are providing $50 million in additional state money to fully fund the earned income tax credit, allowing low-income working families to keep more of their hard-earned dollars. And we are providing an additional $11 million for homestead tax relief.
This budget provides Wisconsin taxpayers with their lightest state and local general tax burden since 1982 -- the lightest tax burden in 15 years!
Feel the power of a state that works!
I hold these tax cuts aloft as symbols of what can be accomplished when we invest wisely and prudently in our economy and our schools. Investments in our people that produce stronger neighborhoods and communities.
The biennial budget I lay before you today is the last of this century -- bringing us to the doorstep of a new millennium, where new challenges await.
As we build for the future, we cannot help but find inspiration in the past -- the vision of Abraham Lincoln, our bold and courageous forefather who we honor today.
Abraham Lincoln often spoke of our great nation as a strong house. And he dedicated his life to making sure an even stronger, more unified house stood for future generations of Americans. Our challenge is to do the same for future generations of Wisconsinites.
This budget is founded on the building blocks for our future -- education, the economy, the environment, public health and public safety. Two of these building blocks, however, are especially vital to the success of all our endeavors. Education and the economy will be the driving forces in meeting every challenge we face, today and tomorrow.
In Wisconsin, our economy is a rich soil from which everything else grows. And education is the nutrient that keeps this soil fertile.
Without a strong economy, built on education, we will not have money for tax cuts or schools and children. We will not have a skilled work force or good-paying jobs for our families. And we will not be able to lift our poor out of poverty or steer our youth away from crime.
Education and the Economy are our future. They are the stones upon which we will build a great new house for a new generation.
A house united, filled with opportunity, and warmed in the comfort of prosperity for all, for generations to come.
This budget builds a strong economy and strong schools, so that a new generation will feel the power of a state that works.
Education:
Abraham Lincoln told us: ";The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.";
This is why we must prepare our children today to lead our state to even greater heights tomorrow. We do so by building a world-class system of schools thereby investing in our greatest resource -- our people.
This budget invests in an educated and skilled workforce with a strong program to connect school to work, which includes allowing high school students to attend technical college. We make sure our students leave school with the necessary skills by establishing rigorous standards and requiring students to pass a test in order to graduate. And we invest more than $200 million in the technology to create greater opportunities for our students to learn.
If you build the worker, the jobs will come.
While this budget goes to great lengths to improve the quality of our K-12 schools and technical colleges, it also brightens the shining star of our education system -- the University of Wisconsin System.
We are investing more than $10 million in technology and faculty training in the UW System.
And we help keep a University of Wisconsin education affordable by providing a 5 percent increase in student aid for college over the next biennium -- the eighth time in 10 years we have been able to increase student aid.
The recent Kiplinger Magazine report that ranked the UW-Madison the third best value in the nation simply stated what we already know. This budget makes sure the UW System remains a remarkable value for the dollar. While we reduce most state agencies, we do not reduce the UW budget.
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From kindergarten to college, our budget provides the high quality system of schools necessary for Wisconsin to succeed in the 21st century.
America's State won't work tomorrow if we don't prepare our children today.
Economy:
And America's State won't work if our economy isn't creating the high-paying jobs that make for vibrant communities.
On Monday, I announced an unprecedented and ambitious plan to clean up contaminated sites in our inner cities -- providing incentives for companies to move into these neighborhoods and bring with them family-supporting jobs.
Yesterday, Reggie White and his lovely wife Sara joined me as we unveiled our partnership in his Urban Hope project, helping rebuild troubled neighborhoods in Green Bay. Reggie and all of us hope this project is so successful that we can soon expand it statewide.
And today, we propose streamlining our economic assistance programs, creating a single but powerful economic development tax credit that is based on creating and retaining jobs; hiring
W-2 participants; and investing in environmental cleanup.
These three initiatives will provide the impetus for recycling our cities' brownfields into neighborhood job centers.
We're also making it easier for our entrepreneurs to do business in Wisconsin by cutting the red tape that strangles so many of our small businesses.
The one-stop Business Assistance Development Center in our Commerce Department will coordinate state redevelopment efforts and serve as an authoritative source of information and assistance for businesses.
By streamlining its permitting process, the DNR will be providing money-back guarantees to back up its more efficient service. If the DNR does not resolve a permit request within the time promised, the customers will receive their money back.
We're guaranteeing swift and efficient help for the entrepreneurs who are creating opportunity for our workers and driving our economic engine.
Agriculture
Of course, we cannot fully address economic development and future economic success without taking steps to ensure our farm families continue to thrive into the next century.
My budget provides nearly $1.5 million to expand the Rural Economic Development Fund and increase the amount of grants and loans awarded. We also increase agricultural diversification grants to support ongoing sustainable agriculture projects.
We provide an additional $7.5 million in low-cost loans to help young farmers start their own farm -- nearly doubling the size of our Beginning Farmer Program. We are also developing a Youth Apprenticeship Program in agriculture, encouraging our high school students to help continue Wisconsin's proud farm heritage.
And we provide $100,000 for education and research in our effort to get Washington to make necessary changes in the dairy pricing system. We have Washington's attention, now we need Washington to act.
And we will keep the pressure up until they do act. The dairy pricing system is unfair and it must be changed. Wisconsin will accept nothing less.
Tourism
Super Bowl Sunday not only brought the Lombardi Trophy back home, it reminded us just how important tourism is to our state's economy. Calls to our tourism hotline increased by 500 percent in the days after the Packers reclaimed their title as America's Team -- enhancing an already vibrant tourism industry.
This budget makes sure we are taking full advantage of our opportunities to attract visitors to our state.
Snowmobiling is the engine that drives the winter tourism season and today we are helping to keep that industry purring and on track.
Heavy snow this winter means a snowmobiling boon for Northern Wisconsin. We will help keep this year's season running by providing $80,000 in emergency aid to keep the trails groomed.
In addition, we are providing $1.8 million over the biennium for maintenance of local snowmobile trails. And we are automating registration for snowmobiles, boats and all-terrain vehicles, providing better service to our customers.
Our plan also provides staff to create a history center in the Northern Great Lakes Regional Visitors Center and a new Marinette Travel Information Center.
But, in order for our tourists to safely and comfortably get to their Wisconsin destinations, we must have a strong system of roads.
Transportation
Perhaps nothing can do more for developing a local economy -- creating jobs in towns large and small -- than a road.
Let me tell you a story about a road and two bold entrepreneurs.
Mike Johnson and Chetan Patel started Scientific Molding Corporation nine years ago with a $500 plastic injection molding machine. In just a few short years, they built their Somerset company into a multi-million dollar success and a major employer in rural Wisconsin.
But their desire to grow almost took them across the border to Minnesota. SMC wanted to expand, but there were not sufficient roads and utilities in the Somerset Industrial Park to accommodate their plans. So we stepped up and provided a $136,000 TEA grant to build that road.
Soon after, SMC expanded from 80 employees to 142. SMC did so well, it could afford to buy a company plane. Now that plane flies for Wings of Mercy transporting low-income rural residents to hospitals for treatment.
SMC also hires welfare mothers and gives the disabled a chance to contribute.
So let's recap.
A company with eyes on Minnesota stayed in Wisconsin.
As a result, more people are working
Welfare mothers and single moms have good jobs.
And sick residents from rural communities have access to hospital care.
All because we built a road. A small, simple, relatively inexpensive road.
Across this state, we can tell similar stories of newfound economic success and opportunity for communities because a road was upgraded or a new road was built. And the same for mass transit in our urban centers.
There is no greater need for bipartisan and regional cooperation than in the area of transportation.
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Whether you drive a mountain bike or a Suburban to work; whether you ride an interstate highway or a metro bus system; or whether you live on a dead-end gravel road or in a downtown high rise -- transportation affects your everyday life. And it is critical to the very future of our state.
Today, there is not a consensus on how to fund the future transportation needs of this state. But I'm pledging to work with the entire Legislature, local officials and everyone who cares about maintaining our diverse transportation infrastructure to find that consensus.
Our economic future depends on our ability to rise above partisanship and regional biases and to have a long-term perspective on transportation policy.
Critical to that process is finding an agreement on transportation issues in southeastern Wisconsin.
The East West Freeway is the Gateway to Commerce in Wisconsin -- an economic lifeline for our entire state. Cut off this lifeline and our economy staggers -- not just in Milwaukee, but in the Fox Valley, Sheboygan, Green Bay and all points north.
Rebuilding this dilapidated system will take us well into the next century; this issue can't be swept away. We must work together today to rebuild it right for tomorrow, ensuring the economic vitality of our state.
In the end, transportation is a statewide issue that needs the attention of everyone in this chamber. We need to find a consensus.
Cleaning brownfields, developing our inner cities, streamlining economic assistance, cutting red tape for small business, strengthening family farms, boosting tourism, and building the roads to opportunity.
An economic recipe for making sure America's State works for a new generation.
Environment:
A healthy environment not only helps us to build a healthy economy, but maintain the high quality of life that makes Wisconsin so special.
We take great pride that, during the past decade, we have shattered the myth that economic development and environmental enhancement could not go hand-in-hand.
While we have built our industry by 30 percent, we also have reduced our industrial pollution by nearly 30 percent. Building our environmental heritage as we build new jobs.
A few days ago, DNR Secretary George Meyer and I unveiled what some have called the most ambitious environmental agenda in a generation. An agenda that ensures we leave our environment to the next generation better than we found it. There is one more element to that agenda that I want to speak about today -- mining.
