Governor Walker touring state to announce $1.3 billion in savings for taxpayers

MANITOWOC, Wis. (WFRV)-- Governor Scott Walker is traveling the state today to announce that he's saved taxpayers $1.3 billion with the fiscal reforms he's signed into law.

Walker made a stop in Manitowoc at the County Highway Department, where he was joined by local officials, to talk about how his reforms have helped created savings.

Manitowoc County Executive Bob Ziegelbauer (I-Manitowoc), Fond du Lac school board president Eric Evenson, and Plymouth Mayor Don Pohlman talked about the positive results the reforms have had on their communities.  

Manitowoc was the first of many stops he'll make today, to talk about balancing Wisconsin's $3.6 billion budget deficit.

Sunday, Walker launched a website that he say "contains a detailed analysis of the documented one billion dollars of savings."

You can visit that website here, and look at the savings in each county.

In Manitowoc, Governor Walker was greeted by the sound of disapproval from a couple dozen protesters, but inside a few local officials were singing the praises of his reforms.

The same controversial reforms that spawned this recall.

"The facts are our reforms are working for the tax payers of Wisconsin," said Governor Walker.

Walker says school districts and local governments have used the tools given them through Act 10 and some  are seeing the benefits..

"The facts are clear, our reforms are working, they are putting more people to work, they are lowering the unemployment rate, and they are helping the hardworking tax payers of Wisconsin," said Walker

 Fond du Lac school board president Eric Everson was one of the local officials on hand, who told the crowd that the reforms are helping his district close a $4.7 million budget deficit.

"When 43 teachers retired, we hired 43 teachers for the first time in my tenure  so i am touting this, it's exciting stuff," said Everson.

As for other school districts who are laying off employees, which according to the DPI is 73 percent of them did, including the city Walker was visiting, he says it's because they have not adapted his reforms.

"My hope is that school districts  like Manitowoc and other cities take  advantage of the reforms that are here," said Walker.

Economist Kevin Quinn said there hasn't been as much good to come out of these reforms as the Walker administration had hoped. Quinn said it's too early to know how much is being saved from these reforms or how well they are working.

Quinn said what has resulted is job loss in the public sector, and a slower rate of economic recovery for the state of Wisconsin.

"I think the slow job growth in this state is the result of the way they pursued these reforms, that's not to say that in the long run they  might not pay off, but how long is the long run," said Quinn, there's not a lot of evidence that its putting people to work right now, the unemployment rate is down, but that's the way the unemployment rate is calculated."