The state budget is finally done but analysts now say there are some costly assumptions built in.
Penny Durham at the Wisconsin Taxpayer's Alliance says generally accepted accounting practices already put the state in the hole by more than two-billion dollars going into the next biennium.
And she says revenue assumed to be available this biennium could go away if the state looses pending lawsuits. For example, transferring two hundred million dollars from the patients compensation fund is being challenged in court.
Then there's the pending federal lawsuit over whether the Ho-Chunk nation owes the state seventy-two million dollars from gaming revenue. That money was already put in the budget and if the state loses the case it could come up seventy-two million dollars short.
Meanwhile, Durham says delaying funding for eight hundred and ninety two million dollars in current spending until the next budget is also a gamble. Durham says lawmakers are betting on strong economic growth to cover the expenses.
Durham says there may be a budget settlement now but the state should be looking down the road too.
