Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 7. Sunrise is 6:48 and sunset is 5:29, for 10 hours, 41 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 78.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 4 PM, the Police and Fire Commission meets at 6 PM, and the Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1801, a tie in the Electoral College between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr is resolved when Jefferson is elected President and Burr Vice President by the House of Representatives.

Even today, $4,300,000,000 is a lot of money:

As Gov. Tony Evers puts the finishing touches on his next state budget proposal, projections show Wisconsin is expected to see a surplus of around $4.3 billion. 

It sets the stage for a familiar battle, with the Democratic governor calling for investments in priorities like education and child care and leaders of the Republican-controlled state Legislature calling for tax cuts.

The $4.3 billion projection comes from an analysis by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau, which suggests state tax revenues will be nearly $895 million higher than expected throughout the next two-year budget cycle. The report credits that to a national economy that grew faster than expected in 2024 and modest increases in state sales tax revenue.

While the surplus is large, it’s not exactly new. Two years ago, Evers and lawmakers began the budget cycle with a projected $7 billion surplus. And even after they passed a new budget that increased spending and cut some taxes, the state ended last fiscal year with $4.6 billion in the bank.

See Rich Kremer, Wisconsin surplus projected at nearly $4.3B as Evers prepares next state budget, Wisconsin Public Radio, February 14, 2025.

There’s been no grand deal for the surplus these last few years, and regrettably the past is the best predictor of what’s to come.

‘Aqua tweezers’ manipulate particles with water waves:

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 64. Sunrise is 6:07 and sunset 7:40 for 13h 33m 14s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 67.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1970, the damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.

Wisconsin has a large general fund balance, but that multi-billion dollar figure isn’t so big that one can’t see unfilled needs behind it. Jessie Opoien reports Wisconsin’s general fund hit $6.7 billion and other takeaways from policy forum report:

The state’s general fund balance — its largest source of reserves — hit a record high of $6.7 billion by June 2023. That was a 42% increase over the previous year. 

The [Wisconsin] Policy Forum previously found that in 2020, the general fund had closed the fiscal year with a small positive balance for the first time on record — but the news came as the state grappled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and faced a recession. The report attributes the strength of the general fund to federal aid, a resilient economy and the development of vaccines to mitigate the severity of the pandemic.

As of June 2023, the report found, Wisconsin had nearly 2.5 times more cash and liquid assets than short-term financial obligations — the highest ratio on record since 2002.

….

The percentage of state transportation fund revenues directed to paying off debt rose from 7% in 2002 to 18.9% in 2019. That share is projected to fall to 16.2% by 2025, thanks in part to fee increases and borrowing decreases, but transportation debt remains an issue.

“Going forward, transportation debt will likely remain an ongoing concern for Wisconsin unless lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers identify additional revenues for the transportation fund, make the general fund transfers permanent, or sharply scale back road projects. None of these options are politically appealing, making this an issue to watch in the next state budget,” the report noted.

A large surplus, ongoing needs for road projects, but beyond that: the surplus as a surplus has only a limited value to residents who have needs and lives beyond the influence of either state budgets or state transportation projects. A surplus for the sake of a surplus isn’t productive.

It’s closer to kleptomania.

See also Wisconsin Policy Forum, A High Water Mark for State Budget?

Memorable: