State News: Farm Debt, Wheel Taxes, Gun Laws

Survey Shows Steady Land Prices, Increased Farm Debt

New data show agricultural bankers in Wisconsin and other Midwest states are predicting continuing financial difficulties for farms.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago recently released its quarterly report on farmland values and credit conditions for the district that covers much of the southern half of Wisconsin, all of Iowa, and parts of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

The report surveyed 170 agricultural bankers in the region and found that respondents felt the value of farmland in the district from July through September was 1 percent lower than during the same quarter in 2018. The survey found that Wisconsin land values were 2 percent lower than 2018 levels, after no changes during the last three quarters. Illinois saw a 1 percent decline from last year, while Iowa and Indiana land values were unchanged.

Arlin Brannstrom, retired faculty associate from the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Dairy Profitability, said state data from actual farmland sales in 2019 show a more optimistic picture.

“In the state of Wisconsin, ag land values continue to hold at near record levels, at least through the first 10 months of this year,” said Brannstrom, who is also secretary of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.

Local Governments Seek Wheel Taxes

Despite increases in state spending on transportation, local governments are still turning to wheel taxes to raise additional revenue for highways and mass transit.

The Dunn County Board of Supervisors, for instance, recently approved a $20 local vehicle-registration fee, also known as a wheel tax. The county estimates it will generate $760,000 annually and help maintain local highways in light of increasing costs for materials.

Dunn County Board chair David Bartlett said that during the last few years, the board has had to trim the highway-department budget to address increased costs related to a rise in methamphetamine use in the county.

“We’ve been spending less on our highways, and probably the reason for that is that Human Services have taken more money than what they were predicted to in our budgets,” Bartlett said. In 2018, he said the county had to shift about $1 million to the Health and Human Services Department from cuts to the highway and sheriff’s departments.

The 2019-21 state budget signed by Gov. Tony Evers spends $484 million on roads during the biennium and increased annual vehicle-registration costs by $10. Despite that and a one-time pool of $75 million for local roads throughout Wisconsin, Bartlett said Dunn County was still losing ground on local highway-maintenance costs.

Evers May Call Another Special Session on Gun Laws

Gov. Tony Evers may call another special session of the state Legislature to address gun violence following a very short, unproductive special session on Nov. 7, when GOP lawmakers who control the Legislature bypassed the governor’s request to discuss two gun-related proposals. Instead, Republicans convened and adjourned Evers’ special session in less than a minute, with no debate and no votes.

But Evers told reporters recently that he’s considering calling lawmakers back to address the state’s gun laws.

“There’s no immediate plans, but I maintain the option of doing that in the future,” Evers said. “Certainly, we’re disappointed in – I can’t even say it was a result – the lack of interest in taking on this issue.”

The governor had called on lawmakers to take up an expansion of background checks and a “red flag” law, which would allow gun rights to be temporarily revoked from individuals who are deemed by a court to be potentially harmful to themselves or others.

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