Hintz, Doyle and Budget
From the UW Oshkosh Advance Titan 2/19/07:
Governor shares budget with community leaders
Gov. Jim Doyle touted funding for education, economic growth and health care during a visit to Oshkosh on Friday. Doyle spoke to a crowd of about 70 invited guests — including Appleton mayor Tim Hanna, Oshkosh mayor William Castle, Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) and UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells — at C.R. Meyers and Sons, Co. and elaborated on some points in his 2007-09 biennial budget, which he proposed last Tuesday.
“Aside from all the numbers, (the budget) is really a statement of our values,” Doyle said.
The governor reaffirmed his “No. 1 priority” of education by outlining his plans for K-12 school programs and praised the quality of Wisconsin’s universities, which, in comparison, he said, are more affordable than some other Midwestern schools. But he also added that paying for tuition was a very tough expense.
“(The spike in tuition) is a phenomenon that has happened all across the United States,” he said. “Comparatively, we’re doing OK. We’re trying to make college more affordable.”
Doyle commended Wells for his efforts on an agenda to allow the most access and opportunities for young people. “Depending on what the Regents do with faculty salaries, the increase in tuition this year will probably be about 4 percent,” Doyle said. “But this budget calls for $44 million additional in financial aid — which will triple the amount of money we have in financial aid.”
Doyle also explained his plan for Wisconsin Covenant, which would make a promise to any eighth grader by the end of this school year to guarantee them a spot in a UW school with a financial package that their family can afford — if he or she maintains a B average throughout high school, participate in their community and take all the necessary courses needed for entry into higher education institutions.
“This is the beginning of higher education truly being linked with economic development,” Hintz said. Hintz gave credit to Doyle for coming up with ideas of funding. He also shared his own views on the increases in college tuition.
“When university students ask me why tuition went up, I say, ‘Your tuition went up because of Medicaid,’” Hintz said. “Low-income seniors apparently out-trump students, and we’re one of five states that fully funds Medicaid. The decision was made where they weren’t going to cut poor people out of the budget, so they put (the expenses) on the backs of students.”
The budget also has a $20 increase for vehicle registration and pledges health insurance to children through the BadgerCare program for $10 a month. Doyle said his budget was something that tobacco and oil companies wouldn’t like, but hard-working families would. He outlined his proposal for a tax increase for all non-ethanol fuel that enters Wisconsin and for tax increases on packs of cigarettes.
“My biggest reservation about (the cigarette tax) is that we’re dedicating revenue towards something that will decline in future years,” Hintz said. “And that’s how the state got itself in trouble in the ‘90s. What happens when you have a cigarette tax is you get additional revenue and a pretty accurate forecast for this year, and maybe it’ll stay for two to four years, but eventually it’ll decline if we invest some of that money into smoking cessation programs.”
See article here, by Adam Dziewiontkoski
See additional commentary on this story at www.foxpolitics.net by Jo Egelhoff by CLICKING HERE.
Governor shares budget with community leaders
Gov. Jim Doyle touted funding for education, economic growth and health care during a visit to Oshkosh on Friday. Doyle spoke to a crowd of about 70 invited guests — including Appleton mayor Tim Hanna, Oshkosh mayor William Castle, Rep. Gordon Hintz (D-Oshkosh) and UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells — at C.R. Meyers and Sons, Co. and elaborated on some points in his 2007-09 biennial budget, which he proposed last Tuesday.
“Aside from all the numbers, (the budget) is really a statement of our values,” Doyle said.
The governor reaffirmed his “No. 1 priority” of education by outlining his plans for K-12 school programs and praised the quality of Wisconsin’s universities, which, in comparison, he said, are more affordable than some other Midwestern schools. But he also added that paying for tuition was a very tough expense.
“(The spike in tuition) is a phenomenon that has happened all across the United States,” he said. “Comparatively, we’re doing OK. We’re trying to make college more affordable.”
Doyle commended Wells for his efforts on an agenda to allow the most access and opportunities for young people. “Depending on what the Regents do with faculty salaries, the increase in tuition this year will probably be about 4 percent,” Doyle said. “But this budget calls for $44 million additional in financial aid — which will triple the amount of money we have in financial aid.”
Doyle also explained his plan for Wisconsin Covenant, which would make a promise to any eighth grader by the end of this school year to guarantee them a spot in a UW school with a financial package that their family can afford — if he or she maintains a B average throughout high school, participate in their community and take all the necessary courses needed for entry into higher education institutions.
“This is the beginning of higher education truly being linked with economic development,” Hintz said. Hintz gave credit to Doyle for coming up with ideas of funding. He also shared his own views on the increases in college tuition.
“When university students ask me why tuition went up, I say, ‘Your tuition went up because of Medicaid,’” Hintz said. “Low-income seniors apparently out-trump students, and we’re one of five states that fully funds Medicaid. The decision was made where they weren’t going to cut poor people out of the budget, so they put (the expenses) on the backs of students.”
The budget also has a $20 increase for vehicle registration and pledges health insurance to children through the BadgerCare program for $10 a month. Doyle said his budget was something that tobacco and oil companies wouldn’t like, but hard-working families would. He outlined his proposal for a tax increase for all non-ethanol fuel that enters Wisconsin and for tax increases on packs of cigarettes.
“My biggest reservation about (the cigarette tax) is that we’re dedicating revenue towards something that will decline in future years,” Hintz said. “And that’s how the state got itself in trouble in the ‘90s. What happens when you have a cigarette tax is you get additional revenue and a pretty accurate forecast for this year, and maybe it’ll stay for two to four years, but eventually it’ll decline if we invest some of that money into smoking cessation programs.”
See article here, by Adam Dziewiontkoski
See additional commentary on this story at www.foxpolitics.net by Jo Egelhoff by CLICKING HERE.
Labels: Budget, Gordon Hintz
posted by Vincent at 3:07 PM
6 Comments:
Hi Vincent. Check out my article - commentary on the Titan article you quote. www.foxpolitics.net, go to Blogs, and look for Hintz, Wells: lessons on the budget. Or just use the search feature. Thanks! Jo Egelhoff, Appleton.
Thanks for the notice Jo. Please keep me updated with your coverage of our local state Assembly Reps.
It is good to get a small glimps of what Hintz has to say. Unfortunately, none of the other officials have been pressed for their ideas and stances on the budget proposal or on many other legislative issues.
To my knowledge, Roth hasn't been asked to comment on anything since his election, and Owens is more often covered in the MJS than any Fox Valley outlet.
Vincent - could you edit this so that there are just three to four paragraphs quoted, and then link to the full article? I think that's the generally accepted guideline for fair use. Thanks.
I was actually going to post this myself, but you beat me to it. My biggest issue with what Hintz said is that "tuition went up because of Medicaid." Is that really true? Isn't it more about the wingers in the Legislature who don't want to give us any money at all?
Of course this statement by Hintz isn't true. There was never an ultimatum in the budget process where the legislators had no other choice but to raise tuition by absurd percentages or fund elderly programs.
It simply comes down to legislative priorities, which are determined by who funds campaigns and who votes - neither category of which students fall into.
It sounds much more slick, though, to say something to the degree that - we as legislators really wanted to help out the students, but we were forced to choose between students and the well-being of our elderly. And being as noble as we are, we chose the elderly.
Actually Vincent, you have it wrong. Wisconsin had a deficit and made a decision to fund a program that provide low income individuals, seniors, and the disabled with health insurance instead of funding the UW system. The people who benefited by this decision have very little money or lobbying power. And WI was one of the few states to maintain this funding. So I think Hintz had it correct: the state made a decision to fund those who could least help themselves over students. And there are consequences to each decision. Tight budget. what would you have cut?
The support of an elderly program is fine. I did not mean to sound as if this population has political power.
Instead, it is that these two groups are neglected because of their absence in power, and that it will always look better to support the elderly over students.
It doesn't have to come to this decision, unless the elected officials pursue business as usual.
What could have been done differently? Why not end the bid-rigging that costs tax payer dollars in return for inferior service? Why not end the unnessesary contracts, such as an absurd deal with Accenture? Why not end the unnessesary 5%+ pay increases for gov administrators? Why not begin enforcing corporate income taxes for all companies? What about raising taxes?
The reality is, that if an ultimatum such as this exists, it is because the choices were created by the actions of the legislature and governor.
But regarding your statement: "Tight budget. what would you have cut" - this political statement has been used since democracy existed to avoid facing accountability.
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