Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu
How is the state of Wisconsin doing financially?
According to Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu of Oostburg, the Dairy State is doing pretty well.
“We are actually doing really great in Wisconsin right now,” LeMahieu told Seehafer News. “In fact, a few of our bond rating agencies have upgraded our bond rating because of the financial status we put ourselves in.”
He said that the state’s ending balance from the previous budget was $1.54 billion, plus the rainy-day fund is at $1.57 billion. To put that in perspective, the current two-year budget is at around $90 billion, and continued improvement is on the horizon.
“That’s over 3% in the reserves,” LeMahieu said. “We just got a new memo saying that it’s expected that at the end of our next budget, which is a little less than two years from now, we are expected to have a $1.7 billion surplus.”
And there is more good news, as the area Senator said that the state is borrowing at historically low levels. He compared these numbers to where the state was ten years ago, where the state reported deficits each year, and the rainy day fund was dangerously low.
This is all well and good, but how does it affect the citizens?
LeMahieu said that it means, “When we do future borrowing for roads and big infrastructure projects…it helps drive down our interest rates,” which means the state will be able to fix more of the roadways in the state, making our drives to work, or vacation destinations a little smoother.
