(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s new budget includes more than 300 less state employees than its last budget, something Republican finance leaders call a victory after Gov. Tony Evers had initially asked to add 800 positions to state government in his proposed budget.
“That is more than an 1,100 position swing from where the governor was,” said Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam. “That’s important for the state when it comes to right size the bloat of government.”
Overall, there will be 77,429 equivalent of full-time employees compared to 74,732 in the last budget. One of the largest areas of lost employees is the Department of Veteran Affairs, which will lose nearly 226 positions. Evers’ budget had proposed adding 12 positions to the department.
Overall, the department saw $4.8 million less in budget for the two-year period after Evers had proposed a nearly $39 million budget increase.
“We have a reduction of government and positions that are similar in this budget to what we had in the last budget,” Born said during the Joint Finance Committee meeting to approve the budget.
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections, meanwhile, saw a 165 full-time equivalent employee increase, the largest employee increase of any department with district attorneys offices increasing staff by 50.
The Department of Natural Resources saw a 66 position decrease and the Department of Transportation saw a decrease of 44 positions.
“One important thing that I look for in every budget is that, not only do we stop the growth of government, but that we make it a trend in reverse,” Born added.
