Budget Hearings Set

Five public hearings will be held this month on the 1997-99 state budget as the spending plan works its way through the Legislature.

The hearings, held by the Joint Committee on Finance, will give citizens the opportunity to comment on the two-year, $36.3 billion budget proposed by Gov. Tommy G. Thompson. The governor’s budget includes $20 million in new state funding for the UW System. UW–Madison comprises about 53 percent of the proposed $5.2 billion UW System budget.

The Joint Committee on Finance will approve the biennial budget in May and send it to the Assembly and Senate for approval. The budget will then go to Thompson for his signature.

Last month, UW System officials testified before the finance committee in support of the governor’s budget and recommended management and spending flexibilities for the state’s universities.

Budget hearings will be held on the following dates:

• April 8, United Community Center Gymnasium, 1028 S. 9th St., Milwaukee, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
• April 10, UW-Marathon’s University Theatre, Room 133, 518 S. 7th Ave., Wausau, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
• April 16, Senate chambers, 119 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Madison, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
• April 17, video conference hearing, Madison location yet to be determined, sites at St. Norbert College’s Fort Howard Theatre, Third Street, De Pere, 9 a.m.-noon and at UW-Superior’s Rothwell Student Center, Room 218, Catlin Avenue, Superior, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Public testimony will be taken only at De Pere and Superior.
• April 22, Chippewa Valley Technical College auditorium, Room 103, 620 W. Clairemont Ave., Eau Claire, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.