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Three of the state’s largest veterans groups – the Wisconsin chapters of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans – are siding against the state Department of Veterans Affairs in the debate over how to maintain funding for the Veterans Trust Fund, a major source of money for state veterans programs. It’s projected to run dry by 2013 without a fresh infusion of funding, and two say a special lottery could refill it.

ken black

In Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011-13 budget, he proposes returning $416,800 to the fund that was removed in past sessions of the state Legislature (money taken in a “raid,” according to Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie) and changing state law to allow the WDVA to transfer funding from the state’s veterans homes to the depleted trust fund. Walker says state employee benefit concessions mandated by the Budget Repair Bill will save the homes $13 million, and part of it can be used to replenish the fund.

WDVA Secretary Ken Black opposes Walker’s plan, saying it “does not fix the structural deficit” in the fund. Black has argued, instead, for the state to commit additional funding to it. The fund, since it was created in 1961, has received periodic injections of state general purpose revenue, but it hasn’t gotten a new one since 1988. Overall, WDVA takes an 11 percent cut under Walker’s budget.

Robert Batty, commander of the Wisconsin American Legion, says that “much of the discussion and hyperbole emerging from the WDVA on the budget has been counter-productive to this point.” He stops short of backing Walker’s plan for the trust fund, however, calling it “a stop-gap solution.” Instead, Batty proposes providing a steady stream of revenue for the fund through a special lottery or other lotto proceeds, which would require approval by two state Legislatures and a state referendum.

Tom Lemmer, commander of the Wisconsin Veterans of Foreign Wars, also endorses using lotto proceeds for the fund. Black’s plan, he says, for “a one-time injection” of state funding “is not the long term solution.” And, like Batty, he’s dissatisfied with the department. “Much of the burden placed upon the (Trust Fund) comes from administrative efficiencies,” he says, “lack of effective oversight and leadership at our veterans homes and a continued deaf ear by WDVA leadership to the suggestions and concerns of the state’s veterans’ service organizations.”

John Hoeft, commander of the Wisconsin Disabled American Veterans, is generally supportive of Walker’s budget. He says he’s “generally pleased with the governor’s budget recommendations affecting our state’s disabled, wartime and other veterans” but adds, “these legislative proposals do not go far enough in restoring veterans’ trust, faith and confidence in the broken leadership at the (WDVA).”

In a state audit released in February, auditors sampled purchases made by veterans homes from fiscal year 2010 and found that a third violated state purchasing rules. The homes, partly due to the purchasing issues, have run deficits in recent years, depleting their operating balances.

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