Reforms in Wisconsin save millions

by Mark Cavers Earlier this year, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ushered in a set of reforms to his state’s budget and personnel system. At the time, opponents said the reforms would be catastrophic. This month, the governor launched a website showing what the reforms have actually meant for local governments and taxpayers. According to Gov. Walker, local...

by Mark Cavers

Earlier this year, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ushered in a set of reforms to his state’s budget and personnel system. At the time, opponents said the reforms would be catastrophic. This month, the governor launched a website showing what the reforms have actually meant for local governments and taxpayers.

According to Gov. Walker, local governments all across Wisconsin have saved more than $450 million in pension and health care costs because of the reforms. These savings mean citizens are protected from costly tax hikes and governments are able to spend more money on delivering core services instead of funding ballooning pension and health care plans.

For example, the governor’s office reports that: “in Kaukauna, they turned a $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus. With the savings from the health care and pension contribution, they were able to hire additional staff to lower class sizes.”

This new website allows Wisconsin citizens to find the county they live in and see how much money the reforms have saved their local governments this year.

In Illinois, citizens are desperately in need of reforms that will save the state’s pension system while giving much needed relief to taxpayers. The Institute is working to get good policies passed so a similar map of Illinois will show even bigger savings, instead of the higher spending and higher taxes Illinoisans see today.