Posted on 02/04/2015 2:09:58 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican Gov. Scott Walker's budget would prohibit the state Department of Natural Resources from purchasing any land through its stewardship program until at least 2028 — if the program still exists then.
The budget the governor released Tuesday would place a moratorium on stewardship land acquisitions. It would last until the DNR's debt service on purchases that already have been made drops to $1 for every $8 spent since the program's inception in 1989. The program won't reach that ratio until 2028. The moratorium is expected to save the state $13 million in debt by then, according to Walker's budget.
The stewardship program is set to expire in mid-2020. Legislators could vote to renew it, but the program still couldn't buy any land until it meets that debt ratio.
The stewardship program authorizes the DNR to borrow money for land purchases, boat landing repair, developing DNR property and grants to conservancy organizations and local governments for land acquisition. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has estimated the DNR has spent $84.7 million on stewardship land purchases from mid-2000 to mid-2014. The state spent $87 million paying off stewardship program debt in fiscal year 2013-14 alone, with $73.5 million of that coming from tax dollars, according to the fiscal bureau.......
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Another article: Highlights of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's 2 year budget proposal
Good move. My town adds 3% to my tax bill for local land acquisition. The town already has more land than it can possibly effectively manage. They just spent/overpaid $3 million for a former Girl Scout camp. Some people have no problem spending other people’s money.
Walker must be over target.
He is half way there. Now he needs to sell state property holdings back to private hands.
‘...grants to conservancy organizations.” No wonder the program has such a ridiculous debt load. It’s a cash cow for Democrats.
The idea is places like Madison/Dane County use acquisitions to prevent the growth of suburbs. They want people all corralled in cities.
Excellent, I wonder if a Presidential candidate Walker would sdvocate the selling of Federal lands to private individuals? If so, he has a strong chance of being elected.
Here is what its all about: takingliberty.us
Pay attention to The Wildlands Project maps
Florida voters just passed a Constitutional amendment dedicating about $20 billion primarily to buy more land.
That is great news. I remember back in the 60s and 70s when the DNR was sending goon squads out to try and coerce owners into selling their river property to the DNR.
Go to main article source (San Fran Chron). There is a mention in the article about SELLING off acreage....
See Post #10.
He has boldly and Bravely attacked Government Unions, Greedy Universities and now their precious Gov fronted land grab schemes.
All other GOP candidates are nothing but anemic windbags compared to Scott (Superman) Walker.
Yet as he is going it alone, actually doing the things that others only whisper about, he is still not fully appreciated and embraced by many on the right.
I say SHAME on anyone who says they want Traditional American Values, yet sits back and nit-pics this or that phrase, or condemns walker because he hasn't given them a personal phone call to address their single issue obsession.
Scott Walker needs all of our support now.
Yes.
Very interesting that a Calif. city - San Francisco no less - picked this part of Walker's budget proposal to do an in-depth story on. And quotes a WI democrat , who labels it "a travesty." Walker has included in his budget the SELLING off of some of this acreage.
I wonder how much of California is tied up, locked away and paid for by the citizens of CA - how much of the CA budget is spent on this - servicing debt on this (like the WI DNR).
It’s a very good indication of his vision.
There are a LOT of people in Wisconsin who do not want Walker to run as president.
And it is not because they dislike him.
So WHY don’t they want him to run?
And if he was on the ballot, would they vote for him?
Just an FYI, Todd Richmond is an AP writer based in Milwaukee. The SF Chronicle just published the story.
That said, it’s about time the WI DNR land purchase program was reigned in.
Thank you for the info!
We like what he’s doing for us with a more conservative Assembly and Senate than he’d ever have in Washington DC and are worried our loss will be wasted in that sh!thole otherwise known as our center of government that we don’t have a lot of faith can ever be fixed.
What can we say...some of us are greedy. :)
The Republicans control the governor and the legislature. Why not just do away with it?
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