State budget surplus at $977M

Wisconsin is currently looking at a $977 million surplus through 2015, thanks in large part to higher-than-expected tax collections and lower-than-expected department spending. Legislators on both sides of the aisle are discussing how to spend the excess dollars. Suggestions range from directing it toward education to doing nothing, which would erase the structural deficit in 2015-17. Gov. Scott Walker is expected to announce a tax-cut package that will include property and income tax reductions.