Fund-Diversion Ban Urged

Several dozen representatives of Wisconsin municipal and county governments, business and transportation organizations have joined together to push for passage of a constitutional amendment that would ban the diversion of state transportation fund revenue for other purposes.

The group Finding Forward is pushing for an advisory referendum on the November ballot. “In the past, the state has borrowed from the transportation fund as a stop-gap means of shoring up its ongoing budget needs, which has caused serious problems in transportation and far beyond,” said Craig Thompson, executive director of the nonprofit Wisconsin Transportation Association.

Local published reports quoted a state Legislative Fiscal Bureau figure that about $307 million has been diverted from the fund over the last four biennial budgets.

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