Barrett challenges recycling grant cuts

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is questioning the legality of the state’s plan to pull back $13.1 million in recycling aids to local municipalities this year and lapse the cash into the general fund.
According to an Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo, the DNR last week sent out notice to 1,020 municipalities that nearly $19 million in recycling grants were being allotted, less than the $32 million that had been budgeted for the aid. The previous year, $29.2 million was doled out in recycling grants out of $32 million that had been allocated for the program.
Barrett wrote in a letter to Walker Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch and DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp that the mid-year reduction in aid is "unprecedented and unmanageable." Milwaukee’s portion of the aid would be cut from $3.66 million to $2.16 million under the plan.
"Payers into the fund entrust the state to spend the money in the manner specified by the legislature," Barrett said.
The LFB memo notes that Walker’s 2011-13 budget proposal ends the recycling grant program, though Walker says he’s willing to compromise on the proposal.
– WisPolitics.com