Republican State Rep. Tony Kurtz negotiated and voted in favor of a spending bill to offer tax cuts and direct payments alongside increased state aid to K-12 schools, and expressed frustration that the proposal failed to become law. One provision of the bill designed to reduce property tax levels would have increased state aid — Wisconsin Technical College System President Layla Merrifield said that shift would have hurt its schools. Ticks are out early and in big numbers across Wisconsin — Gunderson Medical Foundation researcher Dr. Arick Sabin shared ways to prevent tick-borne Lyme disease.

State Rep. Tony Kurtz
R-Wonewoc

• A $1.8 billion spending bill negotiated between Gov. Tony Evers and Republican legislative leaders failed in the state Senate when three Republicans and all 15 Democrats voted it down. The proposal would have provided $600 million in additional K-12 spending – half of that for special education. It also would have eliminated tax on tips and overtime pay, and sent income taxpayers $300 in a direct payment, with $600 for married filers. All the spending would have come from a projected $2.5 billion state budget surplus. Kurtz said now was the right time to pass the measure.
• Kurtz: “What bothers me the most about this entire package is, you know, you have some of my Republican colleagues that obviously, they want to save the money for a large tax cut next year. OK, that’s fine. And then you have my Democrat colleagues that obviously want to save all this money for next session because, you know, they have their various programs that they want to do. The problem is people are hurting right now. The economy is suffering. Our school districts could use the money for special education. And the further we keep pushing this down the road is we’re another year behind.”

Layla Merrifield
President, Wisconsin Technical College System

• The failed spending bill would have given $50 million to the state technical college system as a way to reduce the local property tax burden. Merrifield said that approach would make tech colleges more dependent on state aid, which can be uncertain and less responsive to local needs.
• Merrifield: “Bear in mind that our property taxes in the technical college system are only around 3.5% of the total property tax burden here in Wisconsin. So it’s just not very much money. But it’s a big deal to us to have flexible dollars that we can direct where communities are asking for help.”

Dr. Arick Sabin
Director, Gunderson Medical Foundation Clinical Microbiology Lab

• Warmer springs and later autumns expand the tick season in Wisconsin and with it the number of tick-borne infections like Lyme disease. Sabin says preventing bites by wearing long sleeves and pants tucked into socks, as well as checking for and removing ticks on the body is the best option, but if a person does contract Lyme disease, the condition can be treated with antibiotics.
• Dr. Sabin: “The way that the disease operates is that it produces inflammatory reactions in the human body that have a tendency to progress, change, and worsen over the course of time if the infection is not treated. Generally speaking, it’s better if you take care of it sooner rather than later. Lots of the cases don’t get recognized until weeks or even months have elapsed, and at that point, the symptoms have oftentimes been much more dramatic. But generally speaking, it’s a good idea to try to get antibiotic treatment for people very soon, and they have a tendency not to then progress into the real serious joints or cardiac or neurological complications after that.”

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