Democrats representing Beloit and Janesville in the state Legislature roll out bills they say will help stabilize municipal budgets.
Inspired by their tenures on the Beloit City Council, now-state Sen. Mark Spreitzer and Assembly Rep. Clinton Anderson led outreach to look for ways the Legislature can better help municipalities.
Spreitzer said on Tuesday that during his time on the council, “it was clear to me that the state Legislature was too often restricting local control over local decisions and tying one hand behind our back as we searched for tools to address local challenges and move our community forward on issues like public safety, housing and economic development.”
Anderson blamed the Republicans who have controlled the Legislature for the last decade-plus, saying they claim to prefer local control while at the same time proposing bills that would limit local flexibility and autonomy.
He also touched on what he and his colleagues learned from municipal-level leaders from around the state:
“While the issues were different, the themes were the same: Give us the funding mechanisms we need to control our own destiny. Give us the ability to make the policy choices we want to make.”
One proposal, co-authored by Assembly Rep. Ann Roe of Janesville, would grant additional shared revenue to the state’s 13 cities with more than 50,000 residents. Roe’s hometown would stand to receive a $650,000 payment from the state next year under her bill.
“This bill will help offset some of the pressure on midsize cities and help ensure critical services, such as public safety, for example, remain funded,” Roe said. “In addition, this bill calls for the organization of a shared revenue council” that would meet regularly to evaluate the formulas the state uses to distribute shared revenue to municipalities.
Other measures, all co-authored by Spreitzer, would:
- Give all municipalities, not just counties, the option to establish a sales tax.
- Overhaul regulations on tax increment financing. Changes would include making housing and parks allowable uses for TIF funds and allowing municipalities to extend the life of a TID by three years for the purpose of using additional revenue for affordable housing
- And allow cities to seize property for use as pedestrian and bike trails.
Spreitzer says while Republican lawmakers have not publicly backed these proposals, he knows through private conversations that there is bipartisan support for many of them.
