Navigation

Door County Election News: Getting To Know the Candidates

In an effort to give readers a better look at the candidates competing for the right to represent the 1st Assembly District in the State Legislature in Madison, the Pulse will be asking incumbent Representative Garey Bies (R-Sister Bay) and challenger Dick Skare (D-Fish Creek) to respond to a different question in each issue from now until election day, November 4.

If you have a question or topic you would like to see the candidates address, please email it to [email protected], and we may use it in a future issue. Visit http://www.ppulse.com to review the candidate’s responses to previous questions and find other articles related to the campaign.

This week’s question: Local government officials – school boards, municipal boards, and county boards – have repeatedly expressed frustrations about the levy caps and under-funded mandates placed in their laps by state government. How do you respond to those complaints, and is it appropriate for state government to place such controls on local governments in light of the state’s own struggles to manage its budget?

Garey Bies

Garey Bies

With the increasing cost of gas, groceries, health care and everything else, we cannot afford higher taxes. Spending controls are in place to protect the taxpayers who are the sole supporters of government. Without spending controls, government would be able to tax and spend without restriction. Spending controls on local government help to keep property taxes from increasing too quickly. Spending controls allow for a reasonable increase to local revenues each year, however, if local government feels it must further increase local taxes, a "safety valve" exists allowing local government to ask the people if they want to pay more. If government is going to put their hand into your pocket for more money should they not ask you first? It is then the responsibility of that government body to prove their need. If the taxpayer genuinely believes they should be paying more taxes they have the opportunity to approve the proposed taxes increase.

At the state level, spending controls do not exist, though placing limits on tax increases have been tried in the past. I do not believe the state should be increasing taxes in general and especially not now given the difficult financial times we are facing. That is why this past session in the Assembly I supported a no-tax-increase state budget while the tax-and-spend crowd in Madison proposed $17 billion in new state taxes. I believe in a smarter but smaller government that taxpayers can afford.

In regards to state mandate relief, I supported the creation of a Joint Committee on State Mandates. The committee would determine if a proposed mandate included the necessary funding, if it did not, the committee would be required to amend the proposal to include the necessary funding. Unfortunately, opposition won out and this mandate relief was not included in the final version of the budget. If I am elected, I will support this mandate relief for local governments and would fight against any mandate that does not come with the required funding.

Dick Skare

Dick Skare

The expectation of our governmental units is that they will provide certain services efficiently and economically. Each year at this time local governments go through the budget process to weigh the need for services with a reasonable level of taxation to provide those services. As costs have increased, county, municipal and school boards are expected to maintain current programs yet are limited by state-imposed revenue caps. Programs mandated by the state are under-funded, making local government responsible for those mandates. Local government has become the overdraft protection for the State.

The list of services expected of local government is long so I will only list a few affected by revenue caps. Law enforcement is funded by local taxes. The cost of adequate patrols continues to increase; gas, maintenance, wage and benefit increases for officers.

Our court system is expected to do more with no increase in funding; cost of support staff, representation for those not able to provide for their own defense, facilities to house the court.

Human services are impacted as state funding for required and necessary programs remains at original levels as the expense of providing them continues to increase.

Maintaining our roadways – vital to our economy – has become increasingly difficult. As oil prices increase it becomes more expensive to put trucks on the road, and repair and replace those roads as the cost of asphalt rises. Even the cost of road salt has doubled.

The cost of health insurance for employees, maintaining facilities and property, keeping our libraries open and our schools providing first class education do not rise at a predictable rate.

We must be mindful that government is not a business. Demand for services does not go down. In fact, demand can increase for human services in down times. To force artificial revenue limits on local government creates a situation in which they must borrow money, increase fees or cut activities.

We elect local boards to make such decisions. Many hours are spent working on budgets which provide the services people want. The boards and their staff have been creative and efficient in making those decisions. Local elected boards are held accountable for their spending each election cycle.

This is where revenue limits should be applied, by citizen participation in the local process.

A critical point has been reached. State revenue caps need to be removed and mandates fully funded. Let each community decide its priorities and approve the expenditures needed.