Federal money, segregated funds also make up state budget

Weekly Fiscal Facts are provided to Wisconsin Newspaper Association members by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. The Wisconsin Policy Forum logo can be downloaded here.


In addition to state general purpose revenues, another important element of Wisconsin’s state budget is federal revenue, such as payments in support of programs like Medicaid, FoodShare, funding for schools serving low-income students and students with disabilities, and transportation, comprise another 29 percent of the total budget, or $21.6 billion in 2017-19. Program revenues, which come primarily from fees such as tuition and state parks charges, are expected to generate $12.1 billion in 2017-19, or roughly 16 percent of the total.

The last major component of the budget are programs funded with separate, distinct sources known as segregated funds, which are set aside for specific purposes. The largest of these is the transportation fund, which is comprised mainly of revenues from the state’s 32.9-cents-per-gallon gas tax and $75 vehicle registration fees. In part because of slowing growth in these revenue sources, transportation funding is likely to be one of the most contentious issues in the upcoming budget deliberations. Segregated funds are expected to comprise about 10 percent of the 2017-19 budget, or $7.4 billion.

This information is provided to Wisconsin Newspaper Association members as a service of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. Learn more at wispolicyforum.org.  

Wisconsin Newspaper Association