Hayward High School hosted residents from across Northwest Wisconsin as the state legislature’s Joint Finance Committee seeks public input.

The Joint Finance Committee has been gathering feedback on the 2025-2027 budget from residents across the state in recent weeks. Governor Tony Evers proposed a budget of nearly $119 billion with significant investments in education and healthcare. Along with those proposed investments, Governor Evers declared 2025 as the “Year of the Kid.”

On Monday, dozens of Northwest Wisconsin residents spoke on the various issues they’d like to see addressed in the budget.

School funding was one of the most common issues raised by residents in Hayward. In recent years districts across the state have been forced to turn to ballot referendums to maintain their operations, citing increasing inflation and declining enrollment as major factors in their budget struggles. In the April 2025 election alone, 89 referendum questions were proposed on local ballots. 51 of those were operational referendums, of which 30 were approved by voters.

Residents also expressed concerns over access to rural health care, especially with potential cuts to Medicaid looming. Following the closure of the HSHS hospitals and Prevea Clinics in the Chippewa Valley, residents have struggled with reliable access to health care. Remaining organizations were also stretched thin, particularly with EMS and delivery services.

While individual organizations are opening new clinics and plans for new hospitals continue to develop, residents are still struggling with health care access now. Additionally, $15 million of emergency funding approved last year could soon be put back into the state’s general fund. The Joint Finance Committee refused to release the funding following line item vetoes by Governor Evers. If the committee does not disperse the funding before a new budget is adopted, it will go back into the general fund.

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