K-12 Tax & Spending Climate: Wisconsin needs a fiscal timeout

Todd Berry

For Wisconsin, the last 10 years might be considered "the lost decade."

The deficit on the state's official financial statements topped $2.9 billion in 2010, more than three times what it was in 2000. Relative to the size of our economy, only Illinois had a larger deficit.

State debt is now more than double what it was in 2002. That explains why net state assets (e.g., cash or buildings) that are unrestricted and available for use are negative, a negative $9.4 billion. Only six states have weaker per-capita asset positions than Wisconsin.

How do objective outsiders view these developments? Moody's dropped state bond ratings in 1997 and again in 2001 and, technicality aside, has not changed them since. The firm rated 33 states higher than Wisconsin - and only two states lower.

If truth be told - a rarity when it comes to state finances - no governor or Legislature, Republican or Democrat, has fully come to grips with Wisconsin's fiscal problems in well over a decade.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at January 20, 2011 1:52 AM
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