Politicians hope to see road repairs, job creation for WI in 2017
By Alexandra Burnley of WeAreGreenBay
Local governments and counties all over the state are waiting to see how much help they will get for road repairs with Wisconsin's new 2017-2019 budget, while one politician says job creation is stagnant.
Democratic lawmakers say the issue is at a standstill.
"The governor seems unwilling and unable to make the kind of decisions that it takes as a governor to invest and pay for infrastructure without borrowing money, letting our roads decline, or pushing decisions into the future," Democratic representative Gordon Hintz from Oshkosh said.
While Republicans say aid is on the way.
"The governor has indicated that there's going to be a more substantial investment at the local level in terms of money for maintenance and repair, and I've been very supportive of that, that's actually increased since his initial announcement and hopefully it will increase even further," Republican representative Andre Jacque of De Pere said.
Lawmakers are also concerned about job creation in the state.
Jacque says the state needs the younger generation to step in and fill the places of those who are retiring.
"We have more jobs available than we have people to fill them...the baby boomers have been retiring, but ultimately we don't have the population growth just across the entire us really, to supplant those retiring workers," Jacque explained.
Hintz believes business growth is lagging.
"The reality is Wisconsin is still 8th out of 10 states in the Midwest in terms of job growth over the last 6 years," Hintz said. "We've created jobs at about half the rate of the national average."
Governor Scott Walker will deliver his 7th State of the State address on Tuesday, where he is expected to discuss the economy, infrastructure funding, and more.