The state faces a $283 million shortfall for the fiscal year that ends June 30 and a roughly $2 billion budget hole for 2015-17, new state estimates show.
This current-year deficit grew by about $151.3 million from the $132.1 million estimated by Gov. Scott Walker’s administration in November, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
The two-year spending shortfall, which includes agency budget requests that may not be fulfilled, is slightly less than the previous estimate of $2.2 billion.
Walker is mulling a 2016 presidential bid, and he’ll be forced to confront the current budget shortfall as he touts to a national audience the way he handled a $3 billion shortfall when he took office in 2011.
He is scheduled to introduce his 2015-17 spending plan Feb. 3.
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The budget will be about $650 million short just to keep spending at current levels, and programmatic cuts across state government are expected. Walker has promised tax cuts but it’s unclear what he can deliver.
Democrats quickly jumped on the latest numbers as proof that Walker’s policies aren’t working.
But a Walker spokeswoman said the budget would be balanced, adding that the administration has no plans to submit an emergency budget plan to balance the $283 million shortfall in the current fiscal year.
“Wisconsin will finish the biennium with a balanced budget,” Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said. “We have a proven track record of keeping the state’s fiscal house in order. We will empower agency heads to use all available tools to live within their means and continue their prudent management of agency resources.”
The state constitution requires a balanced budget, so additional savings will have to be found by June 30 without a “budget repair” bill.
The latest fiscal bureau estimate does not include any revenue from tribal gaming, because the Forest County Potawatomi had withheld a $25 million casino payment that was due last year over tensions stemming from a Kenosha casino project proposed by the Menominee tribe and Hard Rock International.
The Potawatomi paid that sum Friday after Walker announced his decision to reject the Kenosha project.
Democrats on Friday accused Walker of putting his presidential ambitions before leading Wisconsin. The new projections came the day before Walker was scheduled to speak at a gathering of Iowa conservatives, and he was to follow that talk with a Sunday event sponsored by an organization connected to billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch.
“Republicans have created a staggering budget deficit and an equally staggering deficit of economic opportunity in Wisconsin,” Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said. “It is no wonder that Gov. Walker wants to hop on a plane to Iowa to escape the fiscal and jobs mess he and his party have created in Wisconsin.”
Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, said the numbers show that Wisconsin’s economy is lagging and the state needs “a full-time governor who is committed to solving the challenges here at home.”
Republican leaders said the numbers show that the state’s economy was headed in the right direction.
“We are confident Walker will resolve the short-term revenue shortfall,” Joint Finance Committee leaders Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, and Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, said in a statement. “There is no doubt Wisconsin’s economic outlook is bright.”
Late Friday, the Walker administration said that the Department of Revenue predicts revenue collections for this fiscal year will be $99 million above what fiscal bureau projected.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
