FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SaveOurBucks

Members of the Wisconsin State GOP legislative caucus have been talking privately the past two weeks about the arena financing proposal and whether or not to include the proposal in the State’s two-year budget (2015-2017). The thought goes that if the arena proposal is in the State budget to be passed later this month it will be approved more quickly and with less political theater.

There also is a fiscal argument from the standpoint that the State’s portion of the bonding results in an annual debt service cost of $4 million per year. That represents only .001% of the Governor’s overall proposed $35 billion in State spending in FY 2015-2016.

You’d think from some of the hysteria over the past ten days that the arena proposal would comprise 5, 10 or 20 percent of the State’s annual budget. But no, the proposed spending is only .001% of the annual budget. Additionally, that $4 million in state spending on the arena bonds is covered by the estimated $10.5 million the State will annually receive in jock tax money from NBA player salaries in FY 2016-17.

Over the next few days we are going to ask you to contact not only the legislators that represent your district, but key people on the fence that we’ll suggest contacting via updates in our Twitter feed. We may even ask you to do some “flash lobbying” this way in order to focus a group of Bucks fans to contact these folks at certain times.

The Wisconsin Legislature consists of two bodies: The Senate and the Assembly.  Everyone in the State is represented by one of 99 members of the State Assembly AND one of 33 State Senators. Use the link below to go to the legislative homepage and there you will find a query box allowing you to search for the member of the Assembly and the member of the Senate that represent you, based on your address.

QUICK LINK TO FIND MY LEGISLATOR: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/

There are two ways you can contact them. Either via email or via a phone call. Continue reading →

State Budget Public Hearing

Before the state budget goes to vote in April, the state holds public hearings to give the public an opportunity to comment, support or oppose parts of the state budget. There will be four such hearings coming up and we will be focusing on the one in the Milwaukee area at Alverno College, next Friday, March 20th at 10am. If you live outside the Milwaukee area and are able to attend a different hearing, we encourage you to attend and show your support for the Arena Funding Plan to support a new arena in Milwaukee.

We will be arriving before 10:00am on Friday, March 20th, and they are expected to deal with the New Arena Funding Plan of the state budget early so you will likely need to only stay an hour or so. We encourage supporters to wear Bucks gear, SaveOurBucks shirts or we will have PlayItForward shirts available to show your support.

For more information or to let us know if you are coming, please check out our Facebook page for the event at this link:

Here is the information on all the public hearings. Spread the word and show your elected officials there is support for the Walker Arena Funding Plan!

MADISON – The co-chairs of the state’s budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance, State Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and State Representative John Nygren (R-Marinette), are announcing four public hearings on Governor Walker’s 2015-17 budget proposal:

THIS IS THE ONE THAT WE HOPE TO HAVE BUCKS SUPPORTERS AT:

Friday, March 20 (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)
Alverno College
Pitman Theatre
3400 South 43rd Street
Milwaukee, WI 53234

OTHER HEARINGS AROUND THE STATE

Wednesday, March 18 (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)
Brillion High School
Endries Performing Arts Center
W1101 County Road HR
Brillion, WI 54110Monday, March 23 (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)

University of Wisconsin-Barron County
Fine Arts Theatre
1800 College Drive
Rice Lake, WI 54868

Thursday, March 26 (9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.)
Reedsburg High School
CAL Center Auditorium
1100 South Albert Avenue
Reedsburg, WI 53959