How do you eat a state? One acre at a time!
It turns out the largest land owner in the State of Wisconsin is government. We (meaning taxpayers) own six and a half million of the 35 million acres in the state (counties own nearly 3 million acres, the state owns nearly 2 million acres, and the federal government owns nearly one and a half million acres). In order to buy more land, the state created the Stewardship Program in 1989. The idea was good--to protect Wisconsin's pristine wilderness for future generations. The problem is the state racked up almost $2 billion in loans (additional debt) to buy the land.

Golf anyone? Play the stewardship course, Rainbow Springs of Mukwonago!

Say my neighbor Tom owns 100 acres, he pays property tax. That's real money going into local coffers. The more people who pay property taxes means the rest of us will pay a little less, the lower amount each payer has to pay. When the state buys Tom's 100 acres, it comes off the tax rolls. I bet you can guess what happens to my taxes, the guy next doors taxes, and the single mom down the roads taxes. They go up for everyone who pays.

Some argue we should go even further in debt to buy more state land, after all, it’s for  “the future,” (so is debt management). For crying out loud, we already own enough land to start another small state, is it wise to buy more? Perhaps we should buy just the best land for future generations and sell the less desirable land that we already own.

Land stewardship started as a good idea, this good idea has us now nearly $2 billion dollars in debt and growing, taking even more land off of the property tax rolls. Property tax payers bills go up. After all, the money for local governments, schools and tech colleges have to be paid.

Fans of the Stewardship Program say it buys land so it's available for recreational purposes. What’s the recreational purpose of 20,000 acres of tillable farm land owned by the state? Wouldn't it make more sense to see those acres sold to someone who would actually, oh I don't know--farm them? Then the local community would take in more tax dollars, and in addition to creating more food, the farmer may add a job or two to the local economy.

In this budget, we will spend $91 million in 2013-14 and $94.5 million in 2014-15 to pay off debt from previous land spending. That’s $1.8 million dollars a week! The stewardship debt keeps growing because we keep borrowing. Property taxes keep climbing because we keep buying more land.