Southeastern Wisconsin manufacturers are overwhelmingly supportive of Walker’s proposed budget, says Jeff Hoffman, vice president of Pewaukee-based commercial real estate brokerage firm Judson & Associates. Hoffman, the former president of the Independent Business Association of Wisconsin, primarily handles industrial real estate deals.
“The vast, vast majority of manufacturers are fully on board with what the governor is proposing,” Hoffman said.
For the last two to three years, manufacturers have struggled to survive and have made major cutbacks in operational costs to survive the Great Recession and deal with increasing global competition, Hoffman said.
Taxes in Wisconsin are still too high, and manufacturers want to see the state balance its budget without raising taxes, Hoffman said, which is what Walker had pledged to do on the campaign.
“It’s certainly not a good thing (that budget cuts and public employee benefit cuts) are happening,” Hoffman said. “But the state has to get its fiscal house in order.”
However, Main Street retailers will probably take a hit because public employees will have less disposable income to spend at their businesses, Hoffman said.
Nevertheless, manufacturers are becoming more optimistic as the economy improves, and they appreciate the governor’s stand on not raising taxes, he said. Hoffman said he is working on two industrial real estate deals that may move forward soon because of manufacturers that are becoming increasingly confident with Walker’s actions.
“When manufacturers here grow, they have to decide whether to expand in Wisconsin or another state,” he said. “We’ve got the best pipeline since spring of 2008.”
