For seven hours today Wednesday, the Wisconsin Joint Committee on Finance heard from people on their priorities for the state budget.
The budget hearing was held in Rhinelander at the Hodag Dome.
Representative Mark Born (R- Beaver Dam) said he was glad local representatives suggested the location.
“I think that there would have been other venues that could have hosted us, but certainly this is a special venue and an opportunity for the committee. Certainly, part of Rep. Swearingen when he brought the idea to us, it was certainly one of the selling points,” said Born.
State Senator Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) said this is the first time in 20 years the committee has been in this northern part of the state.
Both she and Representative Rob Swearingen (R-Rhinelander) were happy to have them here.
“Part of what Mary and I, one of our challenges in Madison is actually getting our own colleagues, I don’t care which side of the aisle they’re on, to let them know there’s actually life north of 64,” said Swearingen.
Over the next couple of days, WXPR will be diving into some of the topics people in the Northwoods brought up during the hearing that they’d like to see prioritized in the budget.