Not having a state budget may cause some inconvenience but there's one view the sky may not be falling.
Todd Berry with the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance says the state economy is still growing, generating new revenue and government will still operate on the old budget until there's a new one.
As for the news that state workers may be temporarily laid off, he thinks that's more of a match to light a fire under the legislature than something truly imminent.
What about the threat of higher property taxes if public schools don't get increased funding? Berry thinks that's been pretty much overblown in press accounts. Berry says schools should have a pretty good idea of how much they will get based on current budget talks.
But he's still concerned there will be a built-in structural deficit because of promises made in the past. It's those commitments, he says, that eat up new revenue coming in and leaves the state in a financial hole.
Berry predicted in February there wouldn't be a budget until October at the earliest and he feels there will have to be a compromise between the democrats' proposed tax increases and the republicans' desired spending cuts.
The key, Berry says, will be getting enough republicans to vote with the democrats in the Assembly.
