Highlights Archives

A Message From the Director


Dear Friends of the Society:

Recent action by the Wisconsin Legislature's Joint Committee on Finance would significantly reduce the impact of proposed cuts to the Society's budget. That's hopeful news, but the state's budget still has a long way to go before it becomes law, and much work remains to be done by all of us who want to ensure that the Society emerges from the budget process with the ability to perform its core mission intact. Here is an overview of the budget crisis to date and a summary of the Society's response.

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Wisconsin Historical Society Director Bob Thomasgard, speaking to guests at a reception at the Villa Louis in Prairie du Chien on May 7, 2003, gives them the good news that the Joint Committee on Finance earlier in the day took action to reduce by one-half the impact of proposed cuts to the Society's budget.

As many of you are aware, the Wisconsin Historical Society faces severe budget reductions as a consequence of the state of Wisconsin's $3.2 billion budget deficit. On February 18 Governor Jim Doyle presented the 2003-05 Executive Budget to the Legislature. As drafted, the budget would require the Society to cut $3 million in tax funding ($1.5 million in each year of the biennium) and to eliminate thirty positions supported by tax funding. These cuts rank as the largest reductions proposed for any major state agency.

On April 12, the Society's governing Board of Curators approved a plan to meet the required reductions in the biennial budget. The board understands and accepts that the Society must do its part to participate in resolving Wisconsin's budget crisis, however the board also approved creation of a legislative advocacy effort aimed at reducing the severity of the Society's proposed cuts. The advocacy effort advanced by the Society would reduce cuts to the Society's budget by half — to $1.5 million ($750,000 in each year of the biennium) and fifteen positions — to bring the reductions in line with those proposed for most other state agencies.

On May 7 the Legislature's budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance approved a motion that does just that, thereby trimming the cuts to both jobs and dollars by 50 percent. We appreciate the bipartisan support reflected in the Joint Committee on Finance's unanimous approval of this motion (16-0), and we are gratified that members of the Legislature recognize the Society's vital educational role in preserving the culture and heritage of the state.

We want to mark this important step in the budget process by acknowledging the support the Society has received from its friends and constituents. Many of you wrote and talked with your elected state officials and policy makers about the Society, its educational programs, and why our work makes a difference in your lives. Examples of some of these eloquent statements of support have been posted on the Society’s budget pages. Please take a moment to write or call members of the Joint Committee on Finance, and your legislators, with a word of thanks for the fair hearing given the Society in recent weeks as they struggle with a very difficult budget. (Need help locating your legislators?)

The budget process continues, and will not be resolved until Governor Jim Doyle signs the biennial budget bill. Please continue to revisit this Web site, where we will provide regular updates on the Society’s budget as the process unfolds.

Sincerely,

Bob Thomasgard, Director

:: Posted May 12, 2003
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