The Republican co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee is at odds with Gov.
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Money to fix Wisconsin roads is well short of what is needed.
Governor Walker says he won’t raise vehicle registration fees or gas taxes to plug the hole unless other cuts are made in state spending.
Nygren called it “unrealistic” to think the state can get away with making no changes to how it funds transportation.
Walker, in response, said he will not support new taxes and fees.
The issue is expected to be one of the largest the Legislature faces when writing the next two-year budget in 2017.
Walker said via a press release Wednesday that he will not budge from his promise to taxpayers to “keep it a priority to live within the means of the hardworking people of Wisconsin”.
“It’s not necessarily the fiscally conservative position to simply say “no” and continue to delay projects and delay growth of our system”, Nygren said on a call with reporters Wednesday.
“Rep. Nygren knew the data showing that Wisconsin has the third worst roads in the nation when he led the Finance Committee to adopt the disastrous transportation budget that was even worse than what Walker proposed”, said Barca in a statement.
Instead, they have turned to borrowing and delaying projects to balance the transportation ledger.
“We need to have a dialogue about how we’re going to fund our transportation needs”, said Nygren, who is from Marinette.
Department of Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb passed over five top officials at the State Patrol in 2011 to give the job to Fitzgerald, a former Dodge County sheriff with four decades in law enforcement who also served as the USA marshal in the Western District of Wisconsin.
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Nygren said he would consider raising the state’s gas tax, now at 32.9 cents.
