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6/26/2007
The Recycling Slush Fund is alive and slushing
Here we go again. More budget hyperbole. And I’m sick of it.
Per Senator Kreitlow’s (D-Chippewa Falls) June 22 press release “Senate Democrats announced…their plans to increase the trash dumping fee… to $10 per ton and use the increased revenue to fund renewable energy development and provide property tax relief to communities operating recycling programs.”
And he goes on to talk about Wisconsin being “uniquely positioned to be a leader in the development of renewable energy… from corn based ethanol to wood based cellulosic ethanol.”
Kreitlow also tries to sooth the tax increase message by citing the impact on neighboring trash. “Wisconsin’s current tipping fee is $3, which is much lower than our neighboring states, inviting out of state trash haulers to bring their trash over the border and dump it here for less. A recent UWGB study estimated that raising the fee to $10 per ton could reduce the amount of trash coming into Wisconsin from Minnesota by 50%.”
Ok. Here’s the deal. Your community needs to add a $10 surcharge per ton (it’s currently $3) to whatever your local landfill tipping fee is. That surcharge windfall is dumped into the state’s Recycling Fund. And that’s a $7 increase for every darn ton – which is about 40,000 tons for Appleton, for example (refuse and recycling). That’s an automatic increase of $280,000 annually to property taxpayers (or monthly garbage collection fee payers).
Maybe Kreitlow doesn’t know this stuff because he’s a brand new freshman State Senator. It’s no excuse in my book.
I’m supposed to feel good about this increase because it will be used to fund tax credits to produce cellulosic ethanol. Ethanol schmethanol. That Recycling Fund is one big slush fund used by both the governor and the legislature as just one more sneaky way to balance their big-spending habits. Dang it.
Communities and corporations around the state pay into this recycling fund supposedly to support – wouldn’t you think? – recycling. But no. Millions of these “recycling tax” dollars are dumped right into the General Fund to help balance the budget.
And it’s getting worse and worse. In the 2001-03 budget, over $9M was transferred from the flush Recycling Fund. In the 2003-05 budget, it was $14M extra laying around that got transferred to the General Fund. And in the 2005-07 budget, it was $31.6M, plus another $3.3M for DNR programs (fully 31% of fund revenues). A total of $81 million has been transferred out of the fund since its inception in 1990 - and spent on stuff completely unrelated to recycling. Grrr!
In 2005, the Recycling Fund was so flush with money that the legislature moved to decrease the tipping fee from $3, to $2.25 per ton. But the Governor used the Frankenstein veto to get rid of that decrease – just couldn’t stand decreasing the Recycling Fund cash cow.
And now they want to increase the fee to $10 per ton. No matter what you think about renewable energy or neighboring trash dumped in Wisconsin, this is a tax increase that goes right straight to your property tax bill. It’s a sham – and I’m sick of it.
COMMENTS
Don't be so nice Jo. Dammit, this is just another flim, flam move by Diamond Jim and his cronies.
We need two budget tools to make the State budget transparent; first, a "Truth-in-Spending" bill to accurately show where funds collected were actually spent and the costs associated, just like a lenders truth-in-lending; second, a GAAP based budget summary that reflects the true fiscal picture of our state.
It's ok to say dammit, I think Will Rogers oft plied the phrase.
Richard (Tue Jun 26 11:24:04 2007)
Winnebago, Brown and Outagamie County residnets/business will have to pay about 5 million dollars more to dispose of their garbage in 2008 with this proposal. And the benefit is?
Nice way to increase taxes under the cover of "out of state waste reduction"! Taxpayers should let their represenatives know how they feel about this and other issues.
Wow. $5M. Indeed yes Patrick. JE
Winnebago County Supervisor Patrick O'Brien (Tue Jun 26 13:55:51 2007)
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