10/99
more on the Wisconsin
Stewardship Fund
Note:
This portion of the story concerning the reauthorization of the Wisconsin Stewardship Fund was taken from "Thompson vows 255 budget vetoes - $43 million to be excised; light rail funding ban to stay" by Steven Walters and Larry Sandler of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel staff. The full story appeared on Oct. 26, 1999 and this excerpt is used with the permission of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.[Gov.] Thompson also announced Tuesday that he will reauthorize the Stewardship program by signing into law a budget provision that will commit the state to borrowing $460 million over the next 10 year to buy land and restore parks. In its first 10 years, the Warren Knowles-Gaylord Nelson Stewardship Program provided as much as $23.1 million annually in state-sponsored borrowing. The fund, according to Thompson's office, has four parts: land acquisition, $28.5 million in the first year and $34.5 million annually thereafter; $11.5 million annually for property development, such as parkland, and local assistance; $5 million for preservation of land in the Baraboo Hills; and $1 million for Great Lakes Bluff protection. Rep. Spencer Black (D-Madison), the author of the original legislation in 1989, praised the measure. "It's a victory, a real victory for the environment," Black said. |