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Legislators May Seek Audit of Tax Collection System: Stadium Board Has Questioned Drop in Sales Levy

Posted on: Friday, 24 March 2006, 03:03 CST

By Don Walker, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mar. 24--Members of the Legislature's Joint Audit Committee appear poised to vote in favor of a massive audit of the state's information technology systems, including the system used to process sales tax collections.

Rep. Suzanne Jeskewitz (R-Menomonee Falls), co-chairman of the committee, said Thursday that there appeared to be enough support to ask the Legislative Audit Bureau to audit an undetermined number of programs in state agencies.

"We've put so much money into the systems, we have to do this," she said.

The committee is to vote on the matter April 5.

An audit is a priority for the Miller Park stadium board.

The board's stated goal is to retire the 0.1% sales tax that is collected in Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha, Milwaukee and Racine counties 2014. But consultants hired the district have concluded that if sales tax collections continue to lag, the tax might have to be extended three or four years.

The sales tax is used to retire the debt on construction of the baseball stadium.

From 1997 to 2002, district sales tax collections increased an average of 7.89% a year. Since the software to manage collections was installed in December 2002, the district collections have dropped an average of 0.11% a year.

That drop comes despite sales tax growth throughout the state. State officials have said that sales tax collections statewide in 2005 were up 4.4%, compared with sales tax growth of 1.9% in the five-county region.

"I don't have confidence in the numbers," stadium board member Douglas Stansil said.

Last week, the board agreed to loblegislators to approve an audit and try to determine once and for all whether there are problems with the accuracy and reliability of the sales tax collection program.

The stadium board and counties that collect a sales tax have concerns about the reliability of the Integrated Tax System (ITS). Several other information technology programs for state agencies have not performed up to par.

In a letter this week to Jeskewitz and her co-chairman, Sen. Carol A. Roessler (R-Oshkosh), State Auditor Janice Mueller notes the problems with ITS. But she also takes note of problems with the state's $36 million Registration and Titling System at the Department of Transportation, and the $26 million Appointment Payroll and Benefits System at the University of Wisconsin System.

Mueller writes that an audit of state information technology systems could determine exactly how many programs are in place, how much was spent on each and whether the project was on time and on budget, as well as provide studies of selected major projects.

Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay), a vocal critic of many of the state's information technology contracts, said he was in favor of imposing penalties on vendors when programs have cost overruns.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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