(The Center Square) – Democratic Gov.-elect David Crowley said he is not concerned with estimates that ending Wisconsin’s Act 10 would cost state taxpayers $2 billion annually.
That includes more than $1.5 billion to the state’s schools and nearly $500 million to municipalities, according to the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, if the law limiting union negotiations beyond salary, capping wage increases at inflation and requiring annual union recertification.
The law applies to public employees, including teachers, but does not apply to police, firefighters or public safety employees.
“I’m not worried about what WILL is putting out there as it relates to analysis,” Crowley said on WISN’s Up Front. “What we need to be focusing on is what that long-term fiscal sustainability looks like for the state of Wisconsin. So we’re going to couple all of this with a blue ribbon commission bringing Democrats, Republicans, tax experts, local units of government, business leaders as well as labor unions to the table to focus on that long-term fix.”
Crowley’s campaign did not respond to specifics about Act 10 when contacted by The Center Square. Spokesman Jonathan Fera told The Center Square that Crowley is “focused on assembling an experienced transition team so his administration can be ready on Day 1 to deliver results for working families across the Badger State.”
Wisconsin legislators could either pass legislation to overturn Act 10 or pass new legislation to replace it in the upcoming session.
WILL Policy Director Kyle Koenen noted on Monday that school property tax levies in the state grew 4.8% per year for the 10 years before Act 10 went into law in 2011 under Gov. Scott Walker. Koenen showed that increases lowered afterward but Koenen said that the levies would total $9.5 billion now if they continued prior trends instead of the $6.6 billion they are currently.
Badger Institute Executive Editor Patrick McIlheran told The Center Square that part of those costs increases were that the state’s teachers were required to use health insurance carrier WEA Trust, owned by the state’s largest teacher union the Wisconsin Education Association Council, which did not respond to questions from The Center Square.
WEA Trust rates were higher than rates in the open market, McIlheran noted, meaning that school districts were able to provide higher levels of health insurance for lower costs immediately after Act 10 was enacted.
“Repealing Act 10 makes property taxes much worse and would do so almost immediately,” McIlheran told The Center Square.