State Senator Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst) advised the Merrill Rotary Club on the progress of the state’s budget process, Tuesday, June 20. A member of the Revenue Committee and the Joint Committee on Finance he is directly involved with the budget process.
Some of the key points that Governor Walker has proposed, he said, are increases in spending for the state’s public schools at a level of an additional $200 per student in each of the next two years as well as increases in spending on the state’s roads and highways. Other proposed projects that Tiffany is promoting include increased funding for rural broadband internet service and the expansion of drug courts that will address the growing drug problem and focus on rehabilitating people rather than imposing prison time.
“Wisconsin is in the best fiscal shape than it has in a long time,” he said noting that the unemployment rate is down to 3.1% form 2011’s 9% and that there are 100,000 jobs listed on the Job Service web site.