Friday, February 25, 2005

$1 billion in borrowing sought

The MJS is so lazy that it had to wait for the Legislative Fiscal Bureau to tell them this rather than just reading Doyle’s budget like the rest of us. 

Jensen requested the report on Doyle’s proposed long-term borrowing from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. It said the governor’s budget would issue $1.06 billion in new debt - half the $2.09 billion that the Democratic governor requested two years ago to help fix the budget deficit.

Doyle’s top deputy, state Administration Secretary Marc Marotta, defended the plan to borrow $1 billion more over the next two years.

“Relative to what has been borrowed in the past, it’s pretty good,” Marotta said Thursday. “The (borrowing) trend line is going in the right direction.”

Keep in mind that Doyle’s budget also includes $850 million in new spending on K-12 education and a slew of other new spending items.  What this tells us is that the State could have a balanced budget this year - without borrowing - if they would just hold the line on spending.  So despite Marotta’s non-excuse that “hey, it’s not as bad as last time,” we must remember that it’s not necessary to borrow at all. 

The MJS story relates that the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s report says that $883 million of the borrowing is for transportation spending.  Keep in mind, however, that Doyle’s budget also raids the transportation fund to pay for some of his new spending.  It matters little whether the money is being borrowed for transportation or other spending when the funds just slush back and forth.

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Posted by Owen at 0744 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

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