In recent years, local governments have struggled to sustain their fire and emergency medical services (EMS) at current levels. Costs have risen, driven upward by an aging population, rising EMS calls, high inflation and low unemployment, and the steady attrition of volunteer and part-time firefighters. Meanwhile, the state has kept tight limits on local property taxes and not all local governments received major funding from last year’s increase in state aid. Continue reading…
In recent months, Forum research and events have had an impact on the public discussion about the state government’s next two-year budget.
In March, the Forum published its state budget brief, which provides a nonpartisan look at Gov. Tony Evers’ recently released budget proposal. The brief looks at the debate over the state’s tax and spending plan for the two years beginning July 1.
We found Evers’ 2025-27 proposal, if enacted, would represent the largest percentage increase in state spending on record and would leave the state with a potential shortfall of roughly $4 billion in the 2027-29 budget. And while the current outlook for the budget is positive, including the more than $4 billion projected balance in the state’s main fund, we suggest that caution is warranted when considering large ongoing spending increases or tax cuts.
Meanwhile, state policymakers repeatedly have cited our research as part of the state budget debate. Evers cited our research multiple times in his State Budget Address in February. And lawmakers, including one of the co-chairs of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee, have highlighted our recent finding that Wisconsin’s state and local tax burden has dropped to its lowest level in more than five decades.
Kenneth Munson, the chief executive officer of Community Care, Inc., was elected as the Forum’s new Board Chairman at our 2025 Annual Meeting on Feb. 4 in Milwaukee. Our board elected Munson to a two-year term as Board Chairman to succeed Grady Crosby.
Other newly elected Forum officers include Jennifer Bognar as one of two vice chairs, and Deborah Tomczyk as secretary. Mark Czarnecki will continue as our other vice chair, as will Bradley Viegut as board treasurer.
The Forum’s board also nominated and elected eight new board members: Anthony Cruz, Andrew Daire, TJ Dougherty, Dayton Hoell, Dawn Matson, Jerimiah Moehrke, Derek Mosley, and Ben Van Pelt.
A special thanks to all past and current board members for your leadership! You play a vital role in making the Forum one of the nation’s premier nonpartisan organizations for state and local policy research.
In light of recent events, the economic outlook for our state and nation was a timely topic for our Feb. 4 panel discussion at the Forum’s 2025 Annual Meeting at the Wisconsin Club in downtown Milwaukee.
Held early each year, this is an organizational meeting required by our by-laws where our Board of Directors votes to install our officers and directors. We also use the meeting to hear from high-profile state and local leaders on relevant policy issues.
This time our panelists were two former state Commerce secretaries: Bill McCoshen, now of Michael Best Strategies, who served under former GOP Gov. Tommy Thompson, and Cory Nettles, now of Generation Growth Capital, Inc., who served under former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.
McCoshen advised our audience to expect more big changes from the Trump administration, including a possible push to work with Congress on major tax changes. Nettles said he’s worried about how tariff battles and general economic uncertainty could affect Wisconsin’s industries, including its manufacturing and agricultural sectors.
School District Finances: This spring, we will examine the impacts of the state budget and potential federal aid changes on Milwaukee and Madison school district finances as part of our annual budget briefs. We will also analyze April school referenda and publish a report analyzing how school districts in Wisconsin spent their federal pandemic relief dollars, and where the expiration of those dollars has left schools and students.
Apprenticeship Readiness: In the coming months, we will publish a brief on apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship training in Wisconsin, identifying program locations and participation levels, coverage, gaps, and opportunities for improvement. This is the first report we will produce through a new partnership with WRTP | BIG STEP, a Milwaukee-based workforce development organization.
Local Government Energy Efficiency: Many local governments in Wisconsin are working to reduce their energy usage and costs through a range of actions, from replacing traditional lightbulbs with LED bulbs to improving government buildings to make them more energy efficient. We will examine those efforts, their benefits and challenges, and what other local governments can learn from them.
Justice System Collaboration: Many communities in Wisconsin have coordinating councils designed to foster collaboration and conversation between key policymakers and practitioners in their local criminal justice systems. We will soon release a report that will take a close look at the structure and function of the Milwaukee Criminal Justice Council (CJC) relative to national best practices and identify innovative ideas from peer councils in other states for Milwaukee leaders to consider.
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“Data gives us critical insight into our state, where we’re growing, how we’re growing, and what the possibilities are ahead of us,” said David Friedman, Wisconsin Policy Forum board member and Midwest lead for Small Business Banking at U.S. Bank. “Being a part of this board has allowed me deeper insights into what is happening in our state. In return, me and my team are able to help business owners understand what is occurring and how to prepare for any potential impacts.”
Contact Info: David Friedman, Senior Vice President
david.friedman@usbank.com
For more than a century, the Forum and its predecessor organizations have produced impartial research and analysis that has generated greater understanding of complex policy issues and improved the quality of public policy decision-making in Wisconsin. In addition to maintaining your ongoing membership, we ask you to consider making a donation to further facilitate our ambitious research and program agenda. Please contact Elizabeth Cizinsky, our Director of Business & Community Operations, at ecizinsky@wispolicyforum.org or by phone at (414) 435-1130 to discuss how your charitable gift can advance our shared goal of producing objective, independent research to address state and local issues throughout Wisconsin.
In these polarized times, we are especially grateful for the support of our members and sponsors. Thank you for reading our research, attending or tuning in for our events, participating in our committee meetings, and maintaining your membership with us.
We are supported by hundreds of corporations, nonprofits, local governments, school districts, and individuals from across the state of Wisconsin. The following members provide particularly generous support that ensures Wisconsin will continue to benefit from having one of the nation’s most successful nonpartisan, independent public policy research organizations.
