First It Was Toll Roads; Now It’s 50 percent Hike in Flyer Fees
MADISON – After embracing the toll roads pushed for by his fat cat patrons, Scott Walker is raising passenger fees by 50 percent at General Mitchell International Airport.
The adopted increase per passenger from $3 to $4.50, which Walker signed Sept. 30 (pg. 683), accompanies a raft of hidden “Walker taxes,” over the years where fees in Milwaukee County have risen on everything from marriage, birth and death certificates to bus fare and greens fees.
Walker’s budget gimmicks currently are under scrutiny as he seeks to plug an existing $7 million budget deficit for the 2010 budget, and a projected deficit of $30 million for the 2011 budget.
In addition to increasing spending by 35 percent, or $349 million, as executive, Walker also has raised the tax levy by $44 million.
“Even Scott Walker’s hidden taxes can’t keep him from running chronic budget deficits,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Monday. “But only he thinks that toll roads and increasing passengers fees at the airport in the midst of a recovery are good ideas or sound policy. Only he believes that he can pull the wool over the eyes of Wisconsin voters.”
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