Wisconsin retains $4B surplus following Evers’ budget vetoes 

After Gov. Tony Evers’ budget vetoes last week, Wisconsin’s current projected surplus for the next state budget is around $4 billion, Wisconsin Public Radio reports.

Wisconsin began the two-year budget cycle with a surplus projection of about $7 billion in its general fund. The budget Evers presented to lawmakers in February would have allocated more of those funds — all but roughly $634 million — to education, child care, broadband, paid family leave, and other government programs.

The budget passed by Republicans in June would have spent more of the surplus on a large income tax cut, including cuts for those earning over $300,000 per year. That budget would have left a similar balance of around $588 million.

Ultimately, Republicans gave Evers less than half of what he requested for public schools and cut other programs altogether; Evers used his partial veto to reject a GOP income tax cut for Wisconsin’s top two brackets.

With the bulk of the surplus still remaining, lawmakers and the governor are still left with some of the same choices they faced when the budget debate began this year. Enough funding is preserved for a budget do-over, but they’ll still have to agree.