CANNOT ASK FOR MORE IF NOT WILLING TO ALLOW COUNTIES TO RAISE REVENUE TO MEET THE COST

Below you will find a item from Wispolitics.com reporting on the Joint Finance Committee action on the Governor's proposal to increase the Real Estate Transfer fee by $3. The governor was going to use the additional money and give it counties in the state.

But before you think that the Governor is trying to find a way to help out county governments and their budgets. The increase aid money the county would receive because of the higher real estate transfer fee does come with a catch. This money was to offset the increase charge the state will place on counties when placing youth in state juvenile facilities.

I say if your not going to give counties the aid money by way of the higher real estate transfer fee proposed by the Governor, then you can not increase the charge counties pay in juvenile placements--which I believe are done by judges not county employees.

---------------------------------------------------------------item From WisPolitics.com ...--

The Joint Finance Committee deadlocked 8-8 along party lines today on a motion to delete Gov. Jim Doyle's proposal to double the the real estate transfer fee to $6 per $1,000 in transferred value.Republicans moved to eliminate the hike, while Dems insisted it would blow a hole in the budget.The committee then took up a proposal from co-chair Sen. Russ Decker, D-Weston, to modify the governor's proposal. His motion would keep transfer fees on properties of $200,000 or less at $3 per $1,000 in value while increasing the tax to $6 per $1,000 on properties exceeding $200,000.

Under Decker's proposal, counties would continue to get 20 percent of fees collected at the $3 rate and would get 10 percent on transfers at the $6 rate.Meanwhile, committee Republicans are circulating a motion that would reduce the rate of the fee from $3 per $1,000 to $2 per $1,000 in 2009-10, and to $1 per $1,000 in 2010-11 ad thereafter.Under the proposal, the collections would be shared 60-40 among the state and the counties, and beginning in 2010-11 the counties would retain 100 percent of the fee. For more, see the WisPolitics Budget Blog:http://blogs.wispolitics.com/budget.html