Progressive Thinking

Spending on Wisconsin’s Medicaid Program, which provides health care for low-income families, is going up. Where is the money going? Is health care really costing that much more?

MADISON - Medicaid is the joint federal-state program that pays hospitals, doctors, nursing homes and other health professionals to provide care for low-income families, including frail elderly persons and individuals with disabilities. It has been the fastest growing part of the state budget.

What’s going on with Medicaid spending? Where is the money going? Is health care really costing that much more?

We pondered these questions at a recent gathering of regional health administrators in La Crosse. I shared budget numbers from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

The state budget is growing – it’s $7.5 billion more than a half-dozen years ago – with health accounting for about $3 billion of the increase.

But the number of people served by the state’s programs grew by only 20,000. Did each new person really cost the state $12,500 a month?

Why are costs increasing so fast at a time when the number served by the state has slowed?

After the presentation, a local health administrator said to me, “I wonder what happened to all the money. The hospitals haven’t seen a raise in a long time. I don’t think the doctors have either.” I can add from many conversations with local administrators, nursing homes haven’t seen much of a raise either.

Just where did the money go?

In 2011, an audit by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) shed some light on the Medicaid program. Auditors found the Department of Health Services (DHS) spent 40% of administration on contracts with private companies to manage the state’s programs. In four years, those contract dollars increased 73%. Almost 1,100 full-time private company employees are working under just one of those contracts.

Auditors reported contract amendments to private companies running Medicaid were made without legislative authorization and without budgeted appropriations. The contracts were no bid and were not reported to DHS’ own purchasers, accountants or procurement managers.

Contract dollars have also increased over the years. For example, in fiscal years 2016-17, private companies getting paid to administer Medicaid reaped a 30% increase or $120 million more than the prior budget.

Most astounding, auditors found DHS could not answer basic questions about how much each “subprogram” (i.e., BadgerCare, SeniorCare, Family Care) cost taxpayers.

“If my CFO [chief financial officer] couldn’t tell me how much we were spending, he would be fired on the spot,” one hospital administrator told our group.

Others had similar reactions. “What you are asking from DHS is what we do every day,” one told me. “We are constantly doing the math to see how to deliver better service at a lower cost.”

Getting health programs running properly benefits all of us. Money going directly to well-run health service means people stay healthy and are more productive. Money spent on no bid health contracts to companies who can’t help the state answer basic management questions – like what are we spending the money on – is money that can’t buy roads, teachers or nurses.

Wise management means looking at all options for funding. Using federal money to cover health costs frees up state dollars for other investments.

For example, expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act would cover an additional 83,000 people and save almost $400 million state dollars in the next budget.

This is money that could be spent on roads, teachers, or nurses.

Lawmakers need to ask detailed questions about health care – just like every other program. The department needs to start providing detailed answers. Let’s begin with “Where did the money go?”

Sen. Vinehout writes about the staff shortage facing many Wisconsin school districts and Superintendent Evers’ Work Group on the teacher shortage.

ALMA, WI - “Who will be my teacher?” my son asked me years ago. For a brief point in time, the teacher was the most important person in his young life.

As children head back to school and parents scramble with new schedules, schools are facing their own scheduling headaches. This year a teacher shortage hit many local schools. Around the state, school districts have hundreds of vacancies.

Recently, I presented an overview of state education budget issues in Viroqua. At least a dozen local superintendents, school board members, principals and teachers were in the audience. Following my presentation, the conversation turned to the teacher shortage.

Educators described an environment in which teachers in certain high demand subject areas move from one school district to another based on the best offer.

Two superintendents from neighboring school districts laughed when they realized they spent the summer bidding against each other to snag the same teacher. “Now we have teachers who come back [to our school] and say, ‘I’m getting a $6,000 increase in an offer from another school.’”

A staff member paid a $12,000 raise creates problems in districts where teachers went seven years with little raise in pay. John, a local teacher, told the group, “The impact on morale is just horrendous.”

Many superintendents, including State Superintendent Tony Evers, saw this crisis coming. Mr. Evers took a number of steps, including the creation of a Working Group on School Staffing Issues.

“Act 10 created a ‘free agency’ environment where competition for high demand and talented teachers is fierce, and financial and geographic differences put many districts at a competitive disadvantage,” stated the group’s final report submitted this summer.

I recently spoke with former Durand Superintendent Jerry Walters who now administers CESA 11, a regional cooperative sharing educational services. He explained post-retirement benefits tended to “give teachers a sense of loyalty”. After Act 10, and the loss of benefits, teachers are like sports player – open to the highest bidder. Few districts can compete in this new world.

School districts have state-imposed revenue caps limiting what they can spend. People are the heart of the school and make up nearly 80% of a district’s budget. Some districts are very short on funds. They gave few raises for many years.

“But some have money to do this,” Mr. Walters told me. “Some Minnesota schools [for example] offer a $10,000 signing bonus… For districts left behind this creates attraction and retention issues…Ultimately it’s the smaller, poorer school district at the bottom of the food chain.”

Rural schools are at a particular disadvantage. Many rural school districts pay ten percent of their budget in transportation costs and have a low revenue cap, which means they don’t have the money to make special offers.

A teacher who worked in Milwaukee, Oconomowoc, Tomah and Westby said, “As long as there is a Middleton, we will lose teachers in Westby.”

To compound problems, fewer students are going into teacher education programs. An April 2016 Journal Sentinel story reported some teacher education programs have 20% to 40% fewer students than a few years ago.

At the Viroqua event, a local elected official, Karen Dahl told the group, “Young people don’t want to go into education because [some in] Wisconsin denigrate the profession and the value of education.”

State Superintendent Evers’ working group offered some solutions to the teacher shortage: cultivate “grow your own” teachers especially in rural areas; make it easier to hire in an emergency; add flexibility so teachers can take on new roles; strengthen ties between K-12 and university teacher education and change recent laws that limit retired teachers from part-time work.

But the simplest part of the solution starts with each of us. I spoke with a math teacher who closed her Facebook page because of negative comments about her profession made by “friends.” She said, “I was in the grocery store and a neighbor came up and said that he didn’t want to pay my salary because I ‘wasn’t worth a dime.’”

Words hurt. And you can help.

Providing every child a great education means getting great people to enter and stay in teaching. We must appreciate the work educators do every day. Our children need an answer to the question, “Who will be my teacher?”

Western Wisconsin was hit with severe rainstorms in the past few weeks, floodwaters washed out roads and left silt everywhere, in the house, the garden, the barn, and the farmyard. Sen. Vinehout provides important information for flood victims and others.

ALMA, WI - “It gets overwhelming,” my neighbor told me. We were walking through her flooded barnyard. Floodwaters left silt everywhere: in the house, the garden, the barn, and the farmyard.

Family members were working hard to clean up. But they were filled with unanswered questions: where to go and what to do?

Western Wisconsin was hit with several severe rainstorms in the past few weeks. Early morning on August 11 parts of Buffalo County received 5 ½ to 11 ½ inches of rain in just 45 minutes. The beautiful rolling hills intensified the power of the water as it raced towards the lowest point.

Huge gullies opened up. Roads washed out. Crops were damaged. Fence lines washed away. Pastures became lakes. Cattle and pigs were lost. Concrete buckled. Trees were uprooted. Small sheds floated away. Farm machinery flooded. Flower and vegetable gardens were covered with black muck.

Roads and driveways acted as dams with water pouring across and eventually washing away the road. Many people lost all or part of their rural driveway. But others lost their home and nearly every possession. The flood seriously affected farms and homes along creeks or rivers.

Rain continued to fall in the coming week. New storms frustrated cleanup efforts and discouraged many people. Temporary road repairs washed away as more water came racing down the bluffs.

County and town officials worked hard to keep people safe and roads open. However, the rural nature of Buffalo county made it hard to get word out to every one affected by the storms.

County workers set up a hotline to call and report damage and to collect details on the problems people face. If you have flood damage, please call 211. If you are using a mobile phone you should call 1-800-362-8255.

It is important for people to report all types of flood damage, even if the damage is covered by flood insurance. The type of damage and the estimated costs of repair are details county officials need when applying for state and federal help. Under federal emergency management rules, the cumulative totals of damage and repair costs determine the level of help available.

Immediate help is available including free flood cleanup kits, bottled water, and rural well testing for areas where flooding may have caused well contamination. These supplies are available at four locations in the county: Gilmanton and Lincoln Town Halls, Ponderosa Bar and Grill in Cream, the Waumandee State Bank and the county Health Department at the courthouse in Alma. The Red Cross and county staff are working to help families displaced by the floods.

Long-term problems are going to take the work of many to solve. Town, county and state officials are meeting to go through options and programs that may assist people.

Repairing rural roads is a huge challenge for every town board. For many years, the state budget provided less money than towns needed to keep up with routine wear and tear on roads. With the recent floods, new problems appeared and old problems are worse.

Likewise, conservation structures – dams and so forth – were not built to handle the storms we experienced. Again, state support has lagged behind needs.

Representative Chris Danou and I will be working with our local officials to find any available emergency assistance. But we need your help in compiling a list of damage and needs.

If you lost crops or fencing or if your farm needs grading or repair of conservation structures, please report the damage. The application process for various programs takes time and your phone call will get that process started.

Disasters bring out the best in the community with neighbors helping neighbors. However, when the damage is more than one person or a whole neighborhood can take care of, it is important to call the county hotline at 211. By calling, folks can get assistance and the county gets a better understanding of the extent of the damage.

You can reach me at 608-266-8546 or toll free at 1-877-763-6636 or email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Cleaning up our neighborhood is going to take a long time. Taking a break from the cleanup to make a phone call is a very important first step.

$472.1 million in awards to businesses through August 1 this year produce fewer new jobs, but would go far in covering the cost of reforming our state’s flawed school funding formula or funding repairs for local roads.

ALMA, WI - “Where did all that money go?” Dennis asked me during a recent visit to the Jackson County Fair.

Dennis is one of many constituents who ask where the money for schools and roads is as our state recovers from the recession. Economic recovery means more money and more money should equal more resources for the public. Instead, state funds are very tight. For example, state aid to local public schools is less now than in 2006.

One reason is that the state is not collecting tax money from some large, and in several cases, very profitable companies. Recently I received a memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau detailing the awards given out for one large tax credit known as the Enterprise Zone Tax Credit. This credit – originally conceived to help rural communities – has morphed into large credits for single companies.

The memo contained a list of the total awards made and the companies that received them:

Amazon.com $10.3 million

Bucyrus International, Inc. $20.0 million

Direct Supply $22.5 million

Dollar General Corporation $ 5.5 million

Exact Sciences Corporation $ 9.0 million

Fincantieri Marine Group, LLC $28.0 million

InSinkErator $15.5 million

Kestrel Aircraft Company, Inc. $18.0 million

Kohl’s Corporation $62.5 million

Mercury Marine $65.0 million

MKE Electric Tool Corporation $18.0 million

Northstar Med. Radioisotopes, LLC $14.0 million

Oshkosh Corporation $47.0 million

Plexus Corporation $15.0 million

Quad/Graphics, Inc. $61.7 million

Trane US Incorporated $ 5.5 million

Uline, Incorporated $18.6 million

W Solar Group, Incorporated $28.0 million

Weather Shield Mfg, Incorporated $ 8.0 million

TOTAL (through Aug. 1, 2016) $472.1 million

All of those award amounts are refundable tax credits. This means a company can claim the credit directly against taxes owed. If the company owes little or nothing in taxes and claims the credit, they can receive a payment from the state in the form of a refund.

Owing little or nothing in state taxes is made possible, in part, by changes in tax law for corporations that date back to 2011. Majority legislators passed the Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit that resulted in very low tax liability for some. A recent study released by the Wisconsin Budget Project found most of this credit goes to reducing taxes for millionaires, including “some tax filers with incomes of over $1 million receiving tax cuts of more than $100,000.”

That list of Enterprise Zone Tax Credit awards includes the total credits that can be claimed over a 16-year period (2009-2024). Different companies are on different schedules. One company’s contract began in 2009. Seven of the listed companies have contracts that go back to 2010. The remaining contracts were written since 2011. The credits are awarded for various business activities. Some credits are given for jobs created or retained, for training or buying from Wisconsin companies. In every case, the “Enterprise Zone” created is the footprint of the company itself.

Credit compliance is overseen by the troubled Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), which does not have a good track record for independently verifying that jobs were created. Three separate audits by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau showed that not one single job created was independently verified.

Earlier this year, the Wisconsin State Journal reported that WEDC’s claims of jobs created were based on “faulty calculations”. They went on to report, “The agency gave out almost $90 million more in awards, but the total number of related jobs fell by nearly 6,000.”

The cost of the Enterprise Zone Tax Credit and the Manufacturing and Agriculture Tax Credit would go far in covering the cost of reforming our state’s flawed school funding formula or funding repairs for local roads.

Funding for road repair is something on the minds of many in Wisconsin. We were reminded once again that in a short time the power of Mother Nature and water can demolish our roads. I offer my heartfelt thanks to the road crews, law enforcement, emergency management, the Red Cross and county officials all of whom worked tirelessly to keep the people safe in the aftermath of the torrential rains and flooding that hit western Wisconsin. We will not be back to normal for a while but we are all safe. If you need help please call 211. And read Rep. Danou’s column this week.

This survey on Internet access now being conducted by the Public Service Commission will paint a more accurate picture of broadband coverage in Wisconsin. Participate and your responses will help inform lawmakers on how to bring our state into the twenty-first century.

ALMA, WI - Do you have a great Internet connection? Less than what you’d prefer? Makes it impossible for you to do your work or your children’s homework? No service at all?

Make your opinion known!

The state is taking a survey of how Wisconsinites connect to the Internet. The survey is free – and ironically – available online. Those without Internet – or such a slow connection they cannot fill out a survey – can let their voice be heard by calling the following toll-free phone number - (877) 360-2973.

Home connections and businesses are measured in separate surveys. You can reach the residential survey here: https://www.research.net/r/WI_PSC_broadband_survey

Businesses can voice their opinion here: https://www.research.net/r/WI_PSC_business_broadband_survey

To prepare for the survey, make sure you know your Internet provider and the number of electronic devices in your home or business that connect to the Internet. The survey will ask for your address, the type of problems you experience, and if you have students in the home who also have Internet problems.

The Public Service Commission – the state agency responsible for supervising public utilities – is conducting the survey. The state must improve information on who is well served and who is not. The current map of where broadband exists is based on information from the companies who provide the service – not from customers.

As a consequence, the state broadband map is inaccurate. Service in an area that appears covered on the state map can be very uneven.

Some companies inaccurately described both the areas they cover and the speed available. People complained about the inaccuracy of the state map and the illusion the map conveys to policymakers.

In conversations with the State Broadband Director earlier this year, I shared examples of how the map misinformed state leaders. For example, one company advertised speed with the modifier “up to” as in “up to 10 Mg.” However, the company didn’t tell the consumer the only way to get that speed is if he lives right next to the company’s equipment and no other customer tries to get on the Internet.

A few years ago, large companies successfully lobbied to remove state oversight of telecommunication companies. Consumer protections and penalties for companies not complying were removed. This makes keeping companies accountable very difficult. The lack of oversight encourages some companies to look for ways to appear to provide coverage without actually delivering it.

Some companies provide fabulous service at a very reasonable price. They do this despite the lack of oversight by the state. Many of these companies are local, customer-owned cooperatives. The Co-op model provides accountability directly to local customers who serve as the Co-op directors. People with problems call a local person or walk into a local office. In western Wisconsin, cooperatives are leading the way to build out reliable, high speed broadband to rural customers.

Pitted against the smaller local companies are the large telecommunication companies with expensive lobbyists in Madison. The result of the uneven resources between small, local companies and large multi-national companies means the Public Service Commission often views the large companies as “walking on water” while having little information about the small local companies who are working the real miracles.

Broadband has become a necessary service to all communities. In the twenty-first century, broadband is as necessary as electric power was nearly one hundred years ago. Businesses cannot function without broadband. Young people know more than many how vital fast Internet is to life today. They are leaving rural Wisconsin because they do not have reliable, fast and unlimited access.

State and federal money has been invested in building out broadband. Too often however the large companies used the access problems in rural Wisconsin to apply for that money and then did not deliver the goods to our underserved areas.

Just tracking the company’s progress in building out service is difficult for the state because there is no independent verification of new customers served.

If you have great service, poor service or no service at all, please take the time to fill out the survey and let your voice be heard. Your investment in time will help those working hard to bring Wisconsin into the twenty-first century.

Historic reductions in state aid to schools and Madison imposed revenue limits have left cash strapped local schools with no alternative but referenda to fund operations.

ALMA, WI - “Is the strategy in the state to move all funding for schools to the local level?” a local school official asked me.

I hesitated. No one in Madison – that I know – intentionally wanted to increase property taxes. However, one result of historic state cuts to schools is an increase in property taxes.

Ironically, taxpayers themselves are voting by way of referenda to raise their property taxes. But they are doing so because state law has left cash-strapped schools no other options.

Schools are under strict state imposed revenue caps. They cannot just raise local taxes to offset less state aid, but voters can override the revenue cap by passing a referendum to raise property taxes.

Many communities are voting to approve school referenda. According to Department of Public Instruction records, voters are on track to consider over 100 different school referenda in 2016.

The process is not new. However, twenty-five years ago the reason voters passed a school referendum was to borrow money for construction projects, for example to build a new school.

About ten years ago, school referenda for operating costs – the routine expense of running the school – began to replace debt as the majority of referenda in our state.

Even as school boards sought money from taxpayers to operate schools, actually passing the referenda a decade ago was roughly a 50-50 chance.

Now voters approved 78% of all school referenda. Referenda specifically to increase taxes to pay for school operating costs passed at a rate of 82% this year.

Many of us just wrote a check for the second half of our property taxes due the end of July. The memory of a big check you wrote may be fresh in your mind.

Property tax is the largest single tax we pay in Wisconsin. The state uses the value of property to determine how much state aid your local school district receives. The higher local property values the less aid your district gets from the state.

Many of you may remember Governor Tommy Thompson’s promise about state school aid back in the mid-1990s. Thompson promised that two-thirds of the school costs would be picked up by the state.

He then gained legislative support for over $1 billion new state dollars for schools. This action had a direct impact on property taxes. In tax year 1996, the school portion of property taxes dropped by 16% leading to a decline in overall property taxes of over 6%.

Today the state contributes almost half of the money for local schools – well short of the two-thirds funding from years ago. For taxes paid this year (2015 tax year), overall property taxes increased 2.3% to the highest level – $10.6 billion – in the history of our state.

When the referenda passed this year kick in, next year’s property taxes in those districts will be higher.

With eight out of ten referenda passing, and state school aid below 2006 levels, I find it not surprising that people suspect state lawmakers are going to put the whole cost of schools on local tax payers.

Many Wisconsin residents look to Minnesota and see that the state contributes almost 70% of the total aid for schools. Property taxpayers in Minnesota only contribute one quarter of all school costs. Wisconsinites say if Minnesota can do it, why can’t Wisconsin.

To substantially lower property taxes in Wisconsin the state would need to contribute a much larger portion of school costs.

Many of my colleagues say the price tag on school funding reform is just too high. But, without increases in school state aid, property taxes are just too high.

We can solve our school funding problems at the state level. I did the math. I constructed an alternative budget that fully funded State Superintendent Tony Evers’ Fair Funding for our Future, which would reform our school funding formula.

Property taxpayers are committed to their local schools but cannot continue to pick up more of the costs of school. The solution requires a commitment by lawmakers to adequately fund public education – for the sake of property taxpayers and our children’s future.

***

There was a time when the state provided two-thirds of school funding but that level of support has eroded over the years. Property taxpayers are committed to their schools but cannot continue to pick up more of the costs. Kathleen notes that she created an alternative budget that fully funds State Superintendent Tony Evers’ Fair Funding for our Future. A commitment by lawmakers to adequately fund schools would reduce the burden on property taxpayers.

County fairs bring people from all walks of life together as participants, volunteers and those who enjoy the festivities. At a time when much seems to divide us, the fair brings us back together in celebration and fun.

GALESVILLE, WI - “The Demolition Derby is ON!” a fair organizer told folks in the commercial building. “We have a three or four hour window in the weather and we are going to run the show.” Cars and trucks lined up for two miles waiting to get to the show. The rain held off all evening.

That afternoon however the rain poured. While most fairgoers dodged the raindrops, ducks and small children were exuberant.

“My kids had so much fun playing in the puddles,” one wet mom told me. “Who would have thought?”

Mid-summer is fair time in Wisconsin. County fairs bring out the kid in all of us.

Stickers, suckers and sunscreen for the young ones; carnival rides, including a train on real tracks, for kids young and old. Calves scrubbed white were shown by white clad teens. Horses with colorful ribbons in their tails munched hay as their youthful handlers swapped tales while waiting out the rain.

One teen showed me the many breeds of chickens she brought to the fair. Her work scrubbing each one was apparent to me – yes, even the chickens have a bath before the fair.

This year, in Galesville, moms and dads were as wet as the chickens after their bath because youngsters dragged them out in the rain to see the fair. No one seemed to mind the mud because there was too much fun to see. And mud was better than intense heat.

“The pig show was delayed because of heat,” one woman told me. “They waited until after dark when things cooled off. Did you know pigs don’t sweat?”

The county fair brings people together from all over our communities. Factory workers, teachers, and farmers work side by side to help raise money for FFA.

“Come to the bulk tank, I’ll buy you some ice cream,” one woman said. “You do know what a bulk tank looks like?” For city dweller, the bulk tank is the large stainless steel tank that holds milk. In this case, the large bulk tank-like structure was part of the FFA ice cream stand. The women remembered, “You milked cows for 25 years didn’t you? Of course, she knows what a bulk tank looks like.”

The fair happens because hundreds of people work together. Adults helping young people with the myriad of 4-H projects; adults making potato salad, grilling brats and clearing tables to raise money for the Lions; old-timers showing off antique tractors; farmers helping teens with cattle, goats, llamas as well as woodworking, leather crafts or amazing engineering displays.

One youth created an entire Civil War battlefield.

Fair superintendents, judges, fair board members, county board members and UW-Extension staff work tirelessly to make sure everything runs smoothly. Keeping things running this year was no small feat. For example, high temperatures caused power outages on the grounds.

People came together to get things working again because that is just how it’s done.

Listening to people tell stories about community work and about successful fairs and festivals, I was reminded how interconnected we all are and how we all play so many roles in each other’s lives.

The volunteer spirit in Trempealeau County is alive and well. The 4-H and FFA leaders, the athletic team coaches, the volunteer sportscaster, the vacation bible schoolteacher, the feral cat rescuer and the family that adopts that abandon kitty – we all play so many roles that are connected.

The interconnected networks of our local communities function in ways we sometimes can’t even imagine.

Does the 4-H leader know the girl who loved bugs will grow up to become a scientist? Does the fellow working the booth realize the little New Testament he passed out will be carried in the young man’s backpack to be read for years? Or does the lady know the recipe she shared will become a Thanksgiving tradition passed down to the next generation?

Despite the hot and rainy weather, hundreds of people worked hard to make the Trempealeau County fair a success. If you are looking for a community success story, take time to attend your local county fair and celebrate the time, talent and dedication that make it happen.

To find county fairs in your area, check the Wisconsin Association of Fairs’ website at http://www.wifairs.com/events/fairs

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout says farewell to staff member Benjamin Larson. Legislative staff play an important role in serving the public good and many people living in the 31st Senate District know Ben because they contacted the office.

MADISON - “I make the promises and my staff keeps them,” said former state Senator Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center). I don’t know if Senator Schultz was the first to say this but his statement certainly describes the important role of Capitol staff.

Our 31st Senate District long-time staffer Benjamin Larson will be leaving soon for Minneapolis. Ben is following his wife who will take up advanced studies in the Twin Cities.

Legislative staffers touch many lives and Ben has certainly influenced the course of life for many people. He is often the first person people encounter when they contact our Capitol office.

Calling your state Senator might not be the first action taken when you have a problem with state government. The state bureaucracy is vast and varied. Usually people begin with the agency that handles the problem they face, like contacting the Department of Natural Resources if they need a permit or the Department of Public Safety and Professional Services for an issue with a license.

By the time folks get to our senate office, they are often frustrated and discouraged. The story of their problem is complex. Their situation did not fit some neat rules of state government and they feel like the proverbial square peg someone tried to pound into a round hole.

Therefore, the call or email comes to our senate office.

Often Ben answered the phone. He listened with an empathic ear and took notes as he thought about the plan of action to help the person.

Sometimes the action was clear. He could provide referral to an office or knew the proper person to call. In other cases, the action was not clear due to the complexity of the person’s dilemma.

I remember a case several years ago, that resulted because laws were in direct conflict with each other.

Ben worked hard to help an Eau Claire family adopt a boy from Ethiopia. Federal law required the family to prove the boy had access to health care before he could be adopted. State law would not allow the provision of coverage until the boy was a Wisconsin resident.

Ben worked for several months to obtain the proper clearances and documentation to facilitate the adoption. The ecstatic family, so thankful their adopted son finally came home, stated in a letter, “Without the work of our state Senator Kathleen Vinehout and her amazing staff member Ben Larson this would not have been possible.”

An excellent staffer is gentle and comforting with people who go through the agony of conflicting laws, but firm and insistent when advocating for those people.

Even when we are not in session, the work does not end. The interim period, as it is called, is a time to prepare for the upcoming legislative session. My staff aids in this preparation by researching laws in other states, reviewing the history of Wisconsin laws or drafting bills that originated as constituent ideas. Together we craft a plan for the next legislative session.

During the summer, I also spend a great deal of time out at various events – fairs, festivals and gatherings – listening to people’s opinions, ideas and problems. I scribble these details on bits of paper and carry them to Madison.

Then Ben and his fellow staff listen to me describe the situation, read my notes and help me think of the next step. Staffers follow up with constituents to get important details. They call expert staff in agencies or work with attorneys who help research topics and draft legislation. While I’m on the road in western Wisconsin listening to constituents, my staff is doing the hard work to come up with solutions.

For a legislator who comes from varied backgrounds of farming and teaching at a university, seeing staff craft creative solutions through a myriad of obstacles is a thrill.

Constituents may never know the long hours spent or the multiple roads traveled to arrive at a solution to their particular problem. Nevertheless, I see their work. They do help me keep my promises.

Ben had well over 50,000 contacts with constituents. In each case, he served with good humor during trying times, patience with people’s frustrations, persistence in the face of obstacles, perseverance and genuine kindness.

Thanks Ben! We wish you the best!

The UWEC Chancellor recently spoke to the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce about the synergistic relationship between the university and business, one that makes it a critical partner in the success of the region and very much worthy of state investment.

EAU CLAIRE, WI - “One hundred years ago the Chamber rented a rail car to go down to Madison,” President Bob McCoy of the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce told the gathering of business leaders. A century ago, Chamber members traveled to Madison to advocate for a new UW campus in Eau Claire.

“Maybe next time we’ll have to take a high speed train,” he joked.

Recently, I attended a Chamber event at which University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Chancellor Jim Schmidt spoke to members about the university and its relationship with the community. The entire Chippewa Valley benefits from “the amazing culture of service in our Eau Claire businesses,” said Chancellor Schmidt. “This is our culture at UWEC.”

“The Eau Claire difference is the engagement of our students and faculty,” Chancellor Schmidt noted. Nearly half of undergraduate students engage in research. This research can have a direct impact and positive benefit on our community.

Through many conversations and visits with faculty and students, I learned about the amazing research happening at UWEC and the direct benefits to Chippewa Valley businesses. I learned about the invention of new materials for manufacturing, advances in physical therapy, research in nursing, and students studying air and water quality near sand mines – just to name a few projects.

From molecules to the makeup of the earth, students learn by doing. Faculty work closely with students to help frame research questions, making relevance to real world challenges an important aspect of inquiry.

All the interactions between business leaders, students and faculty take time. Developing relationships to create real world student experiences is difficult to quantify. In this age of accountability, university professors have come under fire. The heated political rhetoric does not improve morale and – in the end – hurts all of us.

The Chancellor has been touring businesses in the Chippewa Valley. He met with more than 70 business leaders and wove what he learned into his presentation to Chamber members. “I stand proudly to support liberal arts,” he told business leaders. “The majority of the CEOs I asked came from the liberal arts and humanities.”

In response to the budget cuts, the Chancellor led efforts with the entire campus staff to undergo eight major initiatives to reorganize how the campus does business.

Under Governor Walker’s direction, majority legislators cut $250 million from the base University of Wisconsin System budget. In addition, they did not fund another $100 million in building maintenance, which normally passes as part of the state’s borrowing budget. This is penny wise and pound-foolish. Investment in proper maintenance saves over the long-term. Consider what is happening with our roads. University buildings, like roads, need to be maintained.

Budget cuts and low faculty salaries (compared to peer institutions) mean faculty retention and recruitment is difficult. For example, this year the university lost 69 full-time equivalent instructional positions due to budget cuts with an additional 25 faculty resignations – an increase of 150% over last year (also a high year for faculty loss).

Business leaders expressed concern about the loss of faculty in accounting and economics. Graduates of these two program are highly sought by business leaders.

“What keeps you from expanding your business? We don’t have confidence we can find employees,” said the Chancellor in response to a question about a recent report on jobs. “We want to educate more people but we can’t do this if we don’t have the money.”

He told business leaders the conversations would continue. “I won’t be asking you to help Jim,” Chancellor Schmidt said. “I’ll be asking what to do to help you and your business…to improve the vitality of our region.”

President McCoy closed the address by telling those gathered, “Our fear is the future, what are we creating for the next generation?”

Whatever the future holds, we know the next generation of business leaders will need to be smarter and work synergistically with our university students and faculty.

The return on investments we make today will be the success of our next generation.

Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board (GAB) quietly passed into history last week. The GAB was created to take partisan pressure out of the accountability process and was made up of non-partisan judges who ensured the decisions were in the best interest of public accountability – not partisan interests.

MADISON - Government Accountability passed in a quiet death the last day of June.

There was no fanfare, no long speeches – just hard working employees packing up personal items.

I imagined the nonpartisan judges of the Government Accountability Board (GAB) breathed a deep sigh as they left their service on the GAB and ended the rough and tumble ordeal as broad members.

All the fanfare, public speeches and hyper-partisan rhetoric happened last winter in what GAB board member, Judge Thomas Barland, called a “public lynching”.

Judge Barland is a former Circuit Court Judge for Eau Claire and Trempealeau counties. As a GAB board member, he oversaw government accountability in Wisconsin. Earlier this year he retired from the GAB.

For over thirty years, he served as a nonpartisan judge. Ironically, given the partisan focus of destroying the GAB, Judge Barland served as a Republican State Representative from 1961 to 1967.

Following an interview with Judge Barland, Chippewa Valley Herald Associate Editor David Gordon wrote, “Barland said his ‘public lynching’ comment referred both to the recurrent attacks on the GAB by members of the Republican majority in the Legislature, and to the actual destruction of the Board.”

These attacks were on display in a long, confrontational hearing of the Joint Committee on Audit last fall.

As the Audit Committee reviewed the extensive work of the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, in another room across the Capitol, legislators conducted a public hearing on a bill to dissolve the GAB. In less than a week, the bill went being a draft to a full joint hearing, which was the only opportunity for citizens to offer testimony on the bill.

During the Audit hearing, GAB chair Judge Gerald Nichols said in response to a question, “Not everyone before me has been true and honest. To do an investigation we want as many of the facts in front of us [as possible]. We are very balanced and it doesn’t make a difference if the subject of the investigation is independent, Republican or Democrat.”

Following the fall hearing, Judge Barland told the Chippewa Valley Herald, “It’s clear to me that [legislators] are basing some of their conclusions on false information…People are too quick on both sides to draw conclusions from minimal facts.”

The LAB auditors reported the facts. The audit showed, through an analysis of complaints and investigations conducted by the GAB, no major concerns. Auditors recommended quicker resolution of complaints and the GAB responded with a new computer system to track complaints.

An earlier audit reported on other activities of the GAB. The analysis was broad, covering every aspect of the agency. Some activities – for example the evaluation of the accessibility of polling places – won national acclaim.

Problems did exist at the GAB. During the study period, auditors reported on legally required tasks that were not completed or completed late. GAB officials countered that short staffing and an unusually high workload required managers to prioritize tasks. A new, complex administrative rule-making process increased the time needed to promulgate required administrative rules.

During that same period, the GAB dealt with several lawsuits, an on-again off-again voter photo ID law, a historical number of recall elections, a statewide judicial race recount, redrawing of legislative district lines, and the passage of 31 separate pieces of legislation affecting operations and elections.

Nevertheless, some legislators distorted the audit facts to justify the GAB’s demise.

Chippewa Herald Associate Editor Gordon reported, “Barland said that the GAB’s enemies, particularly in the Assembly, ‘distorted badly the audit findings’ in what proved to be a successful effort to kill the GAB. He said that the only hope of keeping the Board in existence lay with the Senate but ‘enormous pressure was brought on the Republican senators’ who were wavering.”

The pressure worked. On Saturday, November 7, 2015 at 2:24 a.m., the bill to dismantle the GAB passed with all Republican Senators present voting “aye” and all Democrats voting “nay”.

“It’s a great step backwards for the state,” Judge Barland said. Barland noted the undoing the legislative majority’s changes to the GAB would be difficult and would need “the electorate as a whole to come to an understanding that what was done was wrong.”

The sun’s power can be harnessed to provide many of life’s essential needs and our natural resources are very much our wealth. Find out what can be learned at the Energy Fair hosted by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association.

ALMA, WI - “Don’t you want to sit in the shade?” my sister-in-law asked. “No” I replied. I love the sun. I understand why ancient civilizations worshiped the sun.

Somehow, I think my in-laws, Cindy and Norm, love the sun too.

They just returned from the Midwest Energy Fair in Custer, Wisconsin. The Energy Fair, sponsored by the nonprofit Midwest Renewable Energy Association celebrated its 27th anniversary in June.

With over 200 workshops and roughly 15,000 folks attending, the fair serves as a catalyst for clean energy projects all over Wisconsin.

Norm and Cindy put to work what they learned. Their yard soaked up the energy from the sun in so many ways.

As we drove up to the farm, laundry waved in the breeze on the clothesline. A big jar of rich brown sun tea soaked up the sun on the picnic table.

A large, black box with a slanted clear plastic top sat atop a small table. The “sun-oven” – awash with sun – cooked healthy brown rice.

And there was another contraption in the middle of the side yard. A small wooden shed with no roof and water hoses running to it with a little entry door on the back. Leaning against the shed was a coffin-shaped rectangular container with a clear Plexiglas lid. I peered through the lid and saw 17 black hoses looped the length of the container, which looked much like a nest of black snakes.

“What is this?” I asked. “Our solar shower” was the answer. Right there in the middle of the side yard. Oh, the joys of country living.

“The yard looks like Ma and Pa Kettle,” I joked. But clearly my family loved the sun.

The photovoltaic panels across the field spoke to my relatives’ commitment to the sun. As did all the equipment in the basement controlling both the geo-thermal and the solar panel systems that powered the farm.

“Don’t forget the power of the sun in all our growing,” Cindy told me as I caught up with her early the next day. She was weeding and mulching a carefully tended garden brimming with produce. The fencing and wooden gate were cleverly built to keep out hungry critters.

The garden looked exactly like the picture-book plot that tempted Peter Rabbit in Beatrix Potter’s books.

“Yesterday I had a little rabbit sticking his nose though the chicken wire,” Cindy said. “I felt like Mrs. McGregor.”

“The growing that happened in June was phenomenal,” Cindy exclaimed. “The longer days, so much rain coming at the right time.” She wanted to share the excitement of growing things. “Capture the energy of the sun in the plant growth and feed yourself! Even in a small area. Everyone can grow something; a window box in the city and a small area in the suburbs. When I dig in the garden and am surrounded by green, it brings me back.”

“We need to balance what we are hearing in the news with this optimistic stuff, and then the bad news won’t paralyze us,” Cindy said. “Norm says ‘all we can do is do what we can in our little corner.’ And we can share what we are doing.”

“This year we got two of our friends to go to the renewable energy fair. And I know they will come back,” Cindy noted.

Cindy shared her memory of a speaker from last year’s Energy Fair. “The speaker asked us ‘Does Wisconsin have coal? No. Oil? No.’ He went through a number of things and then asked ‘Does Wisconsin have sun? YES.’ We need to use what’s here. Let’s celebrate what we’ve got and be smart about it.”

“The good food, the flowers, the trees giving off oxygen; we have the sun and the water. We feel good about being in Wisconsin right now, even with all of our challenges.”

As I left, Cindy handed me a bag full of freshly picked baby kale and strawberries. Nature’s bounty, or as Gaylord Nelson once said, “The wealth of the nation is its air, water, soil, forests, minerals, rivers, lakes, oceans, scenic beauty, wildlife habitats and biodiversity. These biological systems are the sustaining wealth of the world.”

The IRS has witnessed a significant increase in email scams using the IRS name to lure people into giving up important personal information.  Sen. Kathleen Vinehout shares information about what the IRS won’t do and how to report a scam.

ALMA, WI - In my inbox was an official looking email from the “Internal Revenue Service”.

The subject line was: “Tax return request submitted”. Without thinking, I clicked on the attachment to the email.

“Did you file our taxes by email?” I asked my husband. It was a silly question. He would no more send our tax return by email than bank by email. The computer was a dragon to be tamed. You only woke the dragon when absolutely necessary.

“NO!” came the answer from the other room. “Delete it! It’s a scam!”

I hurriedly clicked “cancel” on the downloading email attachment. Then I noticed the attachment was a .zip file – a big file zipped-up. “Oh, dear,” I muttered under my breath.

Even though tax season is over, scammers are still using official looking emails to lure unsuspecting, honest taxpayers into their evil web. I did some research and learned that scammers have many ways to use the IRS name to lure unsuspecting people into their net – phone calls, faxes, emails, fake websites, and even text messages and Short Message Services (SMS).

Scam phone calls are familiar to many people. If you receive a call from the IRS, document the caller’s badge number, name, call back number and caller ID. Then call 1-800-366-4484 to determine if the person is a legitimate IRS employee and really needs to talk with you about your taxes.

IRS email scams are becoming much more common.

The IRS witnessed a 400% increase in email scams this year. A February 2016 IRS alert warned, “The emails are designed to trick taxpayers into thinking these are official communications from the IRS or others in the tax industry, including tax software companies. The phishing schemes can ask taxpayers about a wide range of topics. Emails can seek information related to refunds, filing status, confirming personal information, ordering transcripts and verifying PIN information.”

The IRS also noted there are more email scams seeking personal tax information. When an unsuspecting person clicks on the email, it takes them to official looking websites that masquerade as IRS.gov. These sites ask for personal information like social security numbers. The emails also contain malware or nasty programs that track your keystrokes and allow criminals to impersonate you on-line.

It is important to know that the IRS does not initiate communication with taxpayers by email. Unless that first communication with the IRS is a letter, you can be certain that email message or phone call is a scam.

In a recent new release, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen stated, “We continue to say if you are surprised to be hearing from us, then you’re not hearing from us.”

Commissioner Koskinen listed a few of the actions the IRS will NEVER do: call to demand immediate payment; threaten to send local police or other law enforcement to arrest or deport you; require you to use a specific method to pay your taxes (like a debit card); ask for a credit card or debit card over the phone.

The real IRS warns that an email claiming to be from the IRS is a phishing attempt and should be reported at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

In Wisconsin, the hardworking consumer protection specialists at the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) protect us from scammers. A few weeks ago, they released a warning about the IRS scammers.

“Fake IRS callers are hitting Wisconsin residents hard,” the summer 2016 alert reported. Aggressive callers are “demanding immediate payment for (fake) back taxes.”

In a strange twist, telephone scammers in Wisconsin are accepting payment for fake back taxes with PayPal, Amazon and iTunes gift cards. In addition, the scammers will try the usual methods of asking you to wire money through Western Union or MoneyGram.

DATCP officials remind Wisconsinites the IRS will never call you demanding payment or making threats. They will always send a letter by postal mail – not email or phone.

Don’t be fooled. If you do receive an email, fax or phone call demanding payment, make sure to report it by calling 800-366-4484 or at IRS.gov. You can contact the Wisconsin Consumer Protection staff at the Consumer Protection Hotline at 800-422-7128.

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout writes about the governor’s proposed changes to the Family Care and IRIS programs, the fighting spirit that saved them from privatization, and the lives many from being so ill-advisedly disrupted.

MADISON - “No one had any inkling this was happening,” Michael Blumenfeld told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We are just scratching our heads. Why would you do this?” Mr. Blumenfeld spoke for the Wisconsin Family Care Association in early spring of 2015.

The frail elderly, disabled, and their families learned the governor sought to privatize the successful Family Care and IRIS programs, handing them over to a few large insurance companies.

The birth of this idea happened in secret.

The Department of Health Services (DHS) Secretary – charged with shepherding the plan through the legislative process – acknowledged to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that “she learned of the proposal only when the governor’s budget was released.” Evidently her staff also knew nothing of the plan.

“None of them knew anything about this,” said Barbara Beckert of Disability Rights Wisconsin. “They are in a state of shock.”

In December 2014, the governor’s office invited advocacy groups to a meeting to discuss what they would like to see happen with the programs. Jason Endres and his spouse Julie of Eau Claire attended that meeting.

“We were never listened to,” Jason said. “The governor did a complete 180 when the budget came out.”

Later an email circulated around the Capitol revealing that the governor’s office directed the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau to write budget language dismantling Family Care and IRIS programs. Governor Walker sidestepped the public agency budget process entirely. He ignored the advocacy/agency councils set up to design changes to long-term care programs.

His proposal would upend a critical safety net for almost 60,000 of our state’s most vulnerable citizens without their consultation.

According to an analysis done by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, “The administration did not solicit the recommendations of the Long-Term Care Advisory Council before or during the development of the Family Care/IRIS 2.0 proposal.”

The Council had requested meetings, but was not granted input.

Days after the budget came out, Jason, Julie along with other IRIS recipients and their families started the Save IRIS citizen advocacy effort to inform people about the proposed changes to their critical programs. Thousands of people from around the state participated in two disability awareness days and a SAVE IRIS rally at the Capitol.

During the spring of 2015, hundreds came to testify during the public budget process. More than 200 statewide and local organizations jointly passed a resolution against the governor’s plan.

Then the Joint Finance Committee met to vote. Jason related what he saw: “During the Executive Session they all talked about it. Talk [for the governor’s proposal] didn’t go all that great as far as getting rid of it. All of a sudden [Assembly Speaker] Robin Vos walked in the room. And the mood changed. The Republicans went into a little meeting room within the Joint Finance Committee room. Then they all came back out and everything had changed. Now they were going to get rid of IRIS. Not five minutes later they voted to get rid of IRIS…I was infuriated.”

For Jason, Julie, and thousands like them, IRIS means a sense of pride about determining for themselves how and whom assists them with daily care most of us can do ourselves. The programs help people stay and function in the community like everybody else.

After the final budget vote, the DHS Secretary scheduled meetings essentially to tell advocates to get on-board. Jason told me about an IRIS recipient who was “ousted from the table” and “read the riot act” because she refused to support the administration’s plan.

Jason then learned of a mysterious meeting in the governor’s office between representatives of big insurance companies expected to benefit from the governor’s plan, DHS officials, and Republican budget committee members. Thursday night DHS Secretary Rhodes withdrew the plan.

“This gave us a huge uplift,” said Jason. Julie added, “This is a major victory!”

For over a year our disabled and elderly struggled with the stress of uncertainty. Home care workers were also affected. Many left for other jobs, which created a huge shortage of workers for the disabled who need help for basic functions.

The unconscionable actions by the governor and his legislative allies caused chaos in so many lives. However, a fighting spirit brought about the death of their very ill-conceived idea.

The Legislative Audit Bureau’s recently released audit of the DNR Wastewater Permitting and Enforcement efforts should raise concern about how well that agency is protecting water quality in Wisconsin. The problems identified by the nonpartisan auditors could be remedied with adequate staff and close adherence to policies established in partnership with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to assure compliance with the Clean Water Act.

KEWAUNEE, WI - We all drink water. We expect the water to be clean when it comes out of the facet. We also expect that someone is looking over the safety of our water.

Residents in Kewaunee County wonder more than most if the water they drink is really safe. Well water tested in a random sample last November found a third of Kewaunee wells were contaminated with bacteria or unsafe levels of nitrates.

The likely culprits of well contamination are large livestock farms known as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Kewaunee County has more CAFOs permitted by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) than any other county except Brown.

The nonpartisan Legislative Audit Committee (LAB) recently reviewed the DNR’s work related to our state’s pollution discharge elimination system. The DNR staff is charged with watching over about 1,250 industrial and municipality-owned wastewater treatment plants and the discharge of over 250 large farms – mostly large dairies.

This system is a partnership between the state and the federal government to make sure Wisconsin meets its goals for clean water. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) relies on Wisconsin’s DNR to assure compliance with the Clean Water Act.

State law sets Wisconsin’s policy, “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of its waters to protect public health, safeguard fish and aquatic life and scenic and ecological values, and to enhance the domestic, municipal, recreational, industrial, agricultural, and other uses of water.”

Inspections and a permit system exist to make sure those who discharge into our environment do so following the rules.

But auditors found serious problems.

For example, the DNR issued a notice of violation in only 33 of 558 instances (5.9%) for which such a notice should have been issued based on DNR policies. A notice of violation is part of the required enforcement system. The official letter may include steps required by the permittee to come into compliance with the law.

Wisconsin has experienced significant growth in CAFOs. From 2005 to 2014, there was an 80% increase of CAFO permits.

Farmers are required to send in annual reports including any manure spills and required testing. Auditors found that the DNR electronically records as received only a fraction of these reports. DNR staff told auditors they do not record report submissions because they are too busy with other duties. Staff also indicated they did not have time to thoroughly review the reports.

Inspections provide the oversight to enforce the law. The DNR strategy is to inspect CAFOs at least twice in a five-year period. Auditors found that while the number of CAFO inspections increased, the percentage of CAFOs inspected twice within a five-year period never exceeded 48%.

With the DNR inspecting less than half of CAFOs twice within a five-year period, you might think the DNR Secretary would be calling for more staff and more inspections.

Instead, Secretary Stepp, in her written response to the audit, changed the rules. She wrote the Department would commit to only one inspection of each CAFO during a five-year period.

In what sport, or business, does a team who cannot make a goal move the goalpost?

The Secretary did acknowledge the number of staff conducting review and inspections was below what was needed, but she never made a request to increase staff. In the most recent budget, the Department actually eliminated 66 positions, although none were inspectors.

The Secretary also wrote that almost 30% of the Bureau of Water Quality staff retired in 2010-11. One effect of lack of staff is a backlog in reviewing permits. Auditors found in the 11-year study period the DNR never met its goal of having no more than a 10% backlog for industrial permits. Only in 4 of 11 years reviewed did DNR meet this goal for municipal permits.

In July 2011, the federal EPA notified the state of 75 issues requiring DNR action. LAB auditors pointed out details yet to be resolved related to the EPA notice.

Wisconsin had a tradition of clean water. The DNR has both a legal and a moral responsibility to protect our water. Auditors uncovered details that should concern us all. We need to call on DNR leaders to take steps necessary to protect our water.

Many indicators show that things are not as rosy as some would have you believe about Wisconsin’s financial health. Do we employ good budgeting practices as we struggle to pay our bills?

MADISON - “Is there any news on how the state is positioned for revenue growth?” Mr. Olsen inquired in his letter.

“How do our finances compare to other states?” Mrs. Adams asked.

People want to know about the health of Wisconsin’s finances. As I began my research, I spoke with the State Auditor and the chief financial analyst, both of whom work for nonpartisan legislative support agencies.

Wisconsin is midway through its two-year budget. The state’s fiscal year ends June 30th. By mid-August we should know how closely actual spending and revenue tracked with budgeted numbers.

Preparations are underway for the 2017-19 state budget. State agencies are putting together their budget requests. In November, Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue (DOR) is required to release estimates on money coming into the state to help inform decisions about the budget.

“The last couple of months have not been particularly strong,” the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) analyst told me.

Sales tax collections were down and the DOR reported that corporate income tax collections in April 2016 were about 9% below that of April 2015. The previous month was also down by 15% compared to March 2015 – off about $40 million – and March is a big month for corporations paying taxes.

Estimating corporate income tax is a difficult exercise because of the large number of tax credits and the long period companies have to claim the credits – many can be claimed at any time over a 15 or 20-year period – making it hard to estimate how low corporate tax collections will go. Over the past 10 years, the amount of business tax credits claimed has more than doubled.

Recently the nonpartisan LFB was informed that Governor Walker’s administration would not pay debt bills coming due. Refinancing debt to avoid making a payment is a way to keep more cash on hand.

However, not making those debt payments cost taxpayers more in interest and principal due down the road. The Administration’s recent action to delay $101 million in debt payments coming due results in $2.3 million in additional interest costs.

Delayed debt payments likely reflect concerns the Walker Administration has about the state’s fiscal health. In particular, concerns about the ending balance of the two-year budget. We won’t have a clear picture of how difficult the next budget will be until both the DOR and the LFB release their numbers in November 2016 and January 2017 respectively. Nevertheless, lower than expected corporate and sales tax collection should give us pause.

Earlier this year the LFB projected Wisconsin’s check book balance would be less than previously projected. They pegged the estimate at $70.2 million on a $73.3 billion budget. It is likely the Governor delayed debt payments to improve the balance and make sure he is not in the red.

Wisconsin’s debt – while growing – is sometimes cited as low compared to other states because of the strength of the state’s pension funds. However, if you set the pension fund success aside, debt has increased over the years. Current debt hovers around $14 billion – a mere $500 million less than the state’s tax revenue, which in fiscal year 2014-15 was $14.5 billion.

One reason debt is higher is because Wisconsin set very little aside in its ‘rainy day’ fund. While majority lawmakers and the governor added to the fund in recent years – a good thing – Wisconsin has a smaller rainy day fund compared to every Midwestern neighbor except Illinois. Equivalent numbers are hard to get because of the vagaries of state budgeting, but in a comparison of percent of the states’ general fund, Wisconsin held aside 1.2% of its general fund while Minnesota held aside about 7% of its general fund.

Debt also affects the state’s bond rating. Bond ratings tell us the likelihood of default on the state’s debt. A lower bond rating usually means the state would pay more for interest on debt. Wisconsin’s bond rating – Aa2 – is the lowest of all Midwest states except Illinois.

All of this indicates that Wisconsin’s financial health is not as rosy as some would have you believe. We can do better if everyone pays their fair share and if we grow our rainy day fund during the sunny times and save the credit card for emergencies.

Voters in the Prescott School District face yet another school referendum, the 27th in just 15 years, due to Wisconsin’s convoluted school funding formula. The school funding system is definitely not working for Prescott.

PRESCOTT, WI - What’s wrong with school funding? Explaining this to voters is difficult. Try explaining it to a ninth grader who is losing a favorite teacher. The teacher is not retiring. At 53 and after teaching for 29 years, he lost his job.

Recently I spent a day teaching high school students about school funding and the state budget. Later that day I presented similar material to staff and school board members. I learned much more than the students did during my day as teacher.

Prescott considers itself a suburb of Saint Paul. Only 20 minutes away, folks go to church, shop, and read the newspaper from the Twin Cities. Few hear news from Madison.

However, Wisconsin’s convoluted school funding formula is now the topic of conversation.

Prescott school district lost a referendum in February. Voters will soon decide another – the 27th referenda in just 15 years!

“Between building and levy-cap votes I lost track of the count,” Mandy wrote to me describing the problem. I’m not surprised she lost count.

With the failed referendum, officials made hard decisions. They cut programs at the middle school. Cuts were made to music (lost 1.5 teachers), business and computer classes. Officials cut back on high school art, career and technical education and business education.

Because of the failed referendum, ten percent of the budget is gone next year. Ironically, 10% of Prescott’s budget is nearly the same amount as Prescott’s share of the 2011 historic cut to state aid to schools.

If the new vote fails, over-crowding and temporary classrooms become permanent, faculty will be lost, students within the city limits will not be bussed, sports and extra-curricular activities will require fees. Regardless of the outcome of the vote, and because the new referendum is only a fifth the size of the original, many great teachers will still lose their jobs. Students will have fewer opportunities in such important areas as business education, math and technical education.

Prescott High exists because of referenda. Years ago, voters chose to build a high school. Then two years ago, voters supported building a new high school when enrollment increased and overcrowding in the middle school showed clear signs of tight quarters to come.

Just two months before the 2014 referendum to build the new high school, Prescott’s future looked prosperous. Governor Walker and local leaders celebrated the opening of a new 300,000 square foot distribution center. The Governor hyped “500 jobs that could have gone elsewhere.” His press release cited $3.5 million in state dollars assigned to lure the company to Prescott with the promise of jobs.

Evidently, no one asked if the company would also import its workforce.

Most of the employees who work for the company in Wisconsin are the same people who worked there when it was located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Only now, they cross the river to get to work.

Few new local jobs and anticipated housing starts not materializing meant the expected increase in school enrollment did not happen. Fewer students results in less state aid. Costs of operating the new high school and increasing costs to maintain other buildings means some teachers and programs had to go.

The district is in the confusing position of having a new high school building and cutting teachers. Voters may raise property taxes only to see fewer dollars available for the district as enrollment drops.

Prescott is a poster child for all that’s wrong with Wisconsin’s school funding system and is why I am fighting to fix it.

By the time you read this, likely the Prescott referendum votes will be counted. While passage of the referendum is essential for continued operations, it will only bring the revenue limit back to where it is now.

As I left the Prescott High parking lot, I watched one of the terminated teachers carrying a box of personal items to his truck. I observed talented young athletes compete at a track meet. I could not help but wonder if Prescott voters realized the deep connection between decisions made by majority lawmakers in Madison and the loss of teachers, the new fees for athletics, and even the existence of the school referendum.

Elections have consequences. Those consequences can cut to the heart of a community.

The recreational sport of wakeboarding is popular along the Black River, but the constant large wakes caused by the boats has effected people’s use of the river and caused damage to piers and docks and erosion of the shore. Sen. Kathleen Vinehout attempts to find a solution that allows everyone to enjoy the river.

LA CROSSE, WI - “People are being driven off the river,” Sue told Black River area residents. “My kids can’t dive off the dock with the big boats. … It didn’t used to be this way. We could all get along - kayakers, canoers, and boaters. I wouldn’t dream of letting my kids kayak now.”

Friends of the Black River gathered to talk with boat owners about river use. Some felt big boats had taken over the river.

Playing nice in the sandbox means respecting others play. The six-year-old bully who throws sand and drives other children away does not ‘play nice.’

The public meeting I attended with Sue and about seventy others had at its heart the request to ‘play nice’ on the river.

A few years ago, some river users brought ‘wake boats’ to the river. They used the Black River Flowage for the sport of ‘wake boarding’.

Sometimes called ‘wake surfing’ or ‘wake skating’, wake board riders follow a boat designed to create a large and sustained wake. Residents said these waves could be two or three feet high. We learned from DNR officials that wake-action from these boats was four times greater than a typical ski-boat.

Wake boarders at the meeting described the Black River as ideal for their sport: the river is straight (“the straighter the better”) and smooth.

Other residents complained the wakes created by these boats damaged floating piers and docks, exacerbated erosion along the river increasing the number of down trees and damage to the bank. One person shared a story about the wake knocking over an elderly man standing on a dock, sending his walker into the river.

Residents showed photographs of the damage caused by constant large wakes. “This photo shows an area on my property where the bank was undercut by four feet or so…I lost six feet of property over the last 20 years.” Jeff described how he built a sea wall to protect the shoreline. He continues to have problems with large waves that result in broken lights, dents and dings to his pontoon boat tied up at his dock.

Other families told stories about how they curtailed or lost their use of the river because of the wake boats. Wally Capper said his family used to come to the river to canoe and kayak. “Every one [of the wake boarders] likes to do a U-turn in front of our property.” His family no longer comes to canoe and kayak.

Wake boarders defended their use of the river. One woman reasoned all city residents made an investment in the river – the flowage area created by the Black River Falls dam. “We enjoy the river,” she said. “I don’t want to take away the option of people to use the river.” A man added, “This seems like a witch hunt to me… There are a whole lot of factors that led to riverbank erosion and dock damage.”

The local warden explained current boating ordinances: boaters must use ‘slow-no wake’ speed within 100 feet of the shoreline. Boaters must also stay 100 feet clear of swimmers. The widest spot in the river is 405 feet and the narrowest is 315 feet. This leaves “very little or no channel for boats to go by without slowing to ‘no-wake’ speed.” The warden asked people to “be my eyes and ears”.

People argued and sometimes talked over each other. Emotions were high. Nevertheless, people were civil – on both sides – often referring to each other as “Sir” or “Ma’am”. One man described it as thus: “Upper Black River has a lot of families, a lot of locals. No one wants to turn in their neighbor.”

As I left the meeting, one wake boat supporter asked if I had “an easy solution.”

“No,” I shook my head. The easy solution is to ‘play nice’ and let everyone enjoy the river safely.

Lawmakers get involved to help make sure people ‘play nice.’ Laws protect weaker users and restrict potential bullies. However, there are consequences – sometimes unanticipated – to new laws.

The best solution is the one created at the lowest level possible – between neighbors.

The recent 10 year anniversary celebration demonstrated not only the success of the Recovery Court but the support of the entire Trempealeau County community. Everyone sees it as a wise investment that saves lives.

TREMPEALEAU COUNTY, WI - Addiction may begin in a very private way. But, healing from addiction can take a village and can be very public.

“This is a big challenge,” Taavi McMahon, the Trempealeau County District Attorney told me. “People get up in front of everyone in open court and spill the beans about their whole life.”

Recovery Court in Trempealeau County recently celebrated 10 years of helping addicts return to a healthy life and avoid prison. I was blessed to be a part of the anniversary celebration held in Whitehall.

“All of the Black Tar China Girls raise your hands,” said Kim Walker to the crowd of community members and graduates of the Recovery Court. Folks raised their hands. These were heroin or other opiate drug addicts who changed their lives.

Kim Walker worked with addicts through intensive outpatient counseling. Her smile and sparkling enthusiasm for life was infectious. Those recovering crowded around her and took “selfies” to mark the anniversary of the program that brought them from the brink of death to a full life in a supportive community.

I saw clearly how the Trempealeau County community rallied around the Recovery Court to help heal those suffering from addiction. Church members, food pantry workers, local employers, mentors and sponsors all played invaluable roles.

The Recovery Court team managed the anniversary celebration, including addiction counselors and behavioral health specialists, office staff, probation officers, law enforcement officers, mental health professionals, family court commissioners, the district attorney and the judge.

By every account I heard, Judge John Damon was the driving force behind Recovery Court. “I cannot emphasize enough, Judge Damon got it going,” said Justice Coordinator Patrick Bell in a follow-up interview. Ten years ago, the retiring judge’s vision led to several staff taking intensive training to learn skills necessary to run the court.

“We didn’t have any money when we first started,” Judge Damon told the crowd gathered at the Recovery Court celebration. “So when we rewarded the participants, we gave out candy bars.” He laughed and handed each of the graduates of the program a chocolate bar in fond remembrance of their success.

Law enforcement also plays a key role in Recovery Court’s success. Sheriff Rich Anderson spoke with the group reminding them of how far they have come and how much the Recovery Court is needed in the county.

Local employers, including Gold’n Plump and Whitehall Specialties, support the program by encouraging participants and allowing employees to take time off for therapy and drug testing.

County board leadership played a key role in the program’s success. County Board Chair Dick Miller received an award at the celebration on behalf of the entire Board. Later District Attorney McMahon told me, “The County Board is very in favor of justice reform. We have a lot of good people who believe in redemption and believe in second chances.”

Justice Coordinator Patrick Bell, who worked with participants in Recovery Court for many years, told me about the importance of drug testing. “It really holds them accountable. People do relapse and slip off to the bad side again.”

Participants are required to call every day. Trempealeau County Health Department does drug testing. A randomized system tells recovering addicts when to test. Sometimes the system will order a test every day. Participants have a two-hour time slot to show up and be tested. Testing can detect drugs, including alcohol, taken many days prior. By the time a participant finishes the nearly two-year long program, they might be tested over 230 times.

Recovery Court is part of a movement across America to treat addiction rather than incarcerate addicts. The program is run through the court system often with some state money. Those who fail the program are incarcerated. However, completing the program allows recovering addicts to start their lives anew without prison.

“People do stay straight,” said Patrick Bell. He noted that many give back to the community. “A participant started an AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] support group on his own…the program really works.”

The camaraderie among graduates and their enthusiasm for life moved me. Money was saved because these folks did not go to prison. Crimes were prevented. The community was safer. Moreover, lives were changed.

Gayle Harper traveled the entire length of the Great River Road after reading that it takes 90 days for a raindrop that falls at the Mississippi River headwaters to travel to the Gulf of Mexico. She spent time with people along the river and celebrates the peoples, the land and America’s greatest river in her new book, Roadtrip with a Raindrop.

LA CROSSE, WI - “A single drop of water falling into the headwaters of the Mississippi in Minnesota would travel the river for 90 days to reach the Gulf of Mexico.” Gayle Harper, author/photographer, read this detail on the National Park Service website.

“Every cell in my body felt the impact of that and came to full attention. It felt as if someone had hit the ‘pause’ button on the world.”

She was captivated. How would it be to voyage the entire length of America’s Greatest River for 90 days with an imaginary raindrop?

This moment of inspiration conceived a project that resulted in a story of the peoples, land and waters of the Mississippi River – one of America’s Greatest Treasures. Gayle Harper traveled the Great River Road along with a fictitious raindrop she named “Serendipity.”

Gayle presented her work at the national conference of the Mississippi River Parkway Commission in La Crosse. I serve as a Parkway Commissioner. The Wisconsin Commissioners hosted the national organization charged with protecting the Great River Road. America’s longest and oldest National Scenic Byway stretches 3,000 miles through 10 states.

Through an assignment for Country Magazine Gayle was inspired to learn more about the river and its people. She sat down with a map of the Great River Road and divided her journey into 90 segments. Each day she would travel about 27 miles.

With no money to support her project, Gayle wrote letters to Chambers of Commerce and other groups asking if they would be interested in helping. She ended up with “more invitations than nights available!”

Local people “chose unique and historic places – a fisherman’s cabin, a trendy downtown loft, a tugboat converted to a bed and breakfast, a share croppers cabin, a plantation mansion, and was given keys to the 30 room mansion,” said Gayle. “’Just leave the keys in the box,’ I was told.”

“I did the research, but I didn’t have any planned interviews. I decided to leave it to Serendipity. I met amazing people everywhere. People invited me into their homes. They took me to meet Aunt Betsy. I went to a little girl’s birthday party. I went to dances, barbeques, barges, festivals, whatever was going on.”

The talented author described the spirit of the river: “River-lovers know – it’s in us. It flows through our hearts. It never leaves us.”

“The soul of the river is its people. They teach us to be innocent and to live in every moment. Life is a series of fleeting moments never to be repeated.”

Just like the single raindrop.

Gayle described the “mysterious nature of creativity that we can receive but never claim.” She got back home with “thousands of photographs and impressions”. She was a little overwhelmed about how the project would come together. But beauty and order emerged. “Life has taught me that it works best if I just stay out of its way.”

The result of her work is Roadtrip with a Raindrop, a 240-page book of “200 compelling full-color photographs and 55 beguiling tales from the road.”

The book, published just over a year ago, has won three major book awards.

Gayle was quick to share her accolades with others. “The work you are doing touches hearts,” she told the Commissioners. The Mississippi River Parkway Commission created the map that inspired her journey.

Commissioners asked Gayle about her next project. She hedged a bit and described the creative process “like a baby growing before ultrasound. It’s brewing but you can’t say too much about it.”

I asked Gayle about the “mysterious nature of creativity” that can seem squashed by modern life.

“Funny you should ask,” she said. “My new project is about the creative spirit. Creativity is equally available to all of us at all times… If you feel the creative spirit is squashed, the spirit hasn’t gone away. You need to open the channels.”

Gayle finished with a challenge for all of us. “It’s tempting, if you watch the news, to think that fear, isolation, and mistrust are rampant. And that is just not the case. All these people [the river people] taught me the world is filled with wonderful people.”

Indeed it is.

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout attended a meeting with business people, elected officials, telecommunication companies, and the State Broadband Director to discuss what can be done to solve the problems with rural broadband connectivity.

LA CROSSE, WI - “I don’t want to promise you fiber where fiber is not going to come,” Kent Disch, AT&T Wisconsin External Affairs Director, told Ellsworth community leaders.

Pierce County business leaders and elected officials gathered with telecommunication company representatives and local cooperatives to push for resolution to Internet problems.

Business leaders asked companies why they would not or could not bring services to businesses that were more than willing to pay. A concrete company owner noted his company is growing but lack of good broadband “is a bottleneck.” Broadband is needed to prosper.

One after another, the business leaders, county board members, and a former mayor shared community problems. People could not join mandatory webinars or attend virtual conference meetings. Locals frequently experienced dropped Internet connections. The Internet would not work at certain times of the day.

Families could not obtain services they needed for the business of life. Teens drove across the river to Minnesota to download files. Elderly women had inadequate phone service. Others completely lost phone service with no plans by the company to replace old copper lines. Some couldn’t get Internet at all.

“How motivated is AT&T to work here?” a local business owner asked. Clearly frustrated, she said, “I am still waiting for voicemail [for my business phone]. And it’s been ten years!”

“It’s not a great business investment to put in copper or fiber,” the AT&T representative told the group.

Here was part of the problem. Local people live in an area lacking large concentrations of people. The network of fiber is more valuable to a company as more people are connected. Without some type of incentive, the companies appeared uninterested or unable to connect rural residents.

Earlier this year three companies, AT&T, Frontier, and CenturyLink received more than $570 million in federal money to build rural broadband. As reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin is second only to California in the dollars given to the states through the Connect America Fund II program. Wisconsin also made a very modest investment of a few million dollars in grants to expand broadband.

With this incentive, one would think things were great and build-out would be coming soon. But, not so fast - maybe six or seven years - no commitments.

“We’re not going to go trenching through a bluff,” said the AT&T representative. “We are figuring out what facilities we have. We are a large wireless company…how do we leverage [our assets] to get the best bang for the buck…where can we grab the low hanging fruit…where do we have cell towers with capacity…there is a lot of engineering that goes into this.”

Throughout the discussion, residents learned the place they chose to live was largely responsible for the problems they experienced. Soaring bluffs, rocky outcrops, rolling hills – our beautiful state – was responsible for our lack of broadband.

People at the meeting reviewed maps of connectivity. However, the maps did not accurately show the void in service coverage.

“We know the map is incorrect,” said Angie Dickison, State Broadband Director as she handed me a brightly colored map of our Senate District. “Why?” I asked. She replied, “Data comes from the providers. Reporting is done on census block. If just one person receives service the entire census block is covered.”

When I asked specific questions about resolving people’s problems I learned most problems could be solved.

Does the Internet drop you? Your service is “oversubscribed” meaning there are too many people on the line. Is it hard to get on at certain times of the day? There are too many people and not enough equipment. Having problems with lag-time on the computer? A common problem with satellite service as the signal travels to outer space and back again.

Could the state get an accurate internet connectivity map? Yes. But the law requiring companies to provide detailed data was changed with the telecommunication “modernization.”

Wisconsin lost the levers of power to require certain actions by companies (such as providing basic phone service to everyone) by deregulation. Now, it seems, we are relying on the goodwill of the company and the lure of public dollars to bring broadband to rural areas.

But will the company deliver? There are no promises.