The State Building Commission took up Governor Tony Evers’ third capital budget proposal Thursday, and ultimately deadlocked 4-4 along party lines on every one of the governor’s spending pitches.
Governor Evers had called for $3.8 billion in spending with major investments in 28 counties across Wisconsin. However, a big chunk of that money, roughly half, was recommended for projects on multiple UW System campuses.
Aside from a new engineering building at UW-Madison, the governor had called for investments to cover phase two of a new science building at UW-Eau Claire, along with demolishing Phillips Hall. Money for similar projects at UW-La Crosse, as well as dorm renovations at UW-Oshkosh, were also pitched.
However, Republicans rejected those proposals Thursday, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise given the same thing happened the last two budget cycles.
Unlike those previous attempts though, this time Governor Evers called for less borrowing. Instead, the governor proposed paying for roughly half of the work in cash using the state’s projected budget surplus of $7.1 billion.
The plan now heads to the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee without any recommendations on projects.