MONROE — The state of Wisconsin is eyeing an $818 million budget surplus and area residents on Feb. 24 asked Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), to consider earmarking that surplus for rural road improvements and education.

Marklein, who represents the 17th Senate District, which includes Green County said distributing any surplus is a difficult proposition. He said that half of the surplus will go the Wisconsin’s “rainy day fund,” which is used to support the state during years when it goes over budget. Marklein said the number of special interests that want a piece of the remaining $409 million is considerable.

“We didn’t expect having this money, so it’s new and significant,” Marklein told a gathering of about 20 people at a listening session at the Monroe Public Library. “We’re blessed to have an $818 million surplus we can talk about.”

Marklein said his first priority is to guard the state’s rainy day fund. The addition of $409 million to that number will put that fund at more than $1 billion, he said.

There is a proposition to return the remaining surplus directly to state taxpayers through a refund, similar to surplus checks that went to taxpayers in the 1990s under former Gov. Tommy Thompson. The average refund from the additional $409 million would equal $106 for each adult state resident, Marklein said.

There are many other ideas for using the surplus, Marklein said, including spending $100 million to reduce state debt.

When the audience asked Marklein questions, the issue of the state providing more money for the improvement of rural roads was a key topic.

“It’s a constant challenge to get roads done,” Lance Fredricks of Browntown said. “We definitely need help to get the roads back into shape. We have roads that were once paved that are just gravel. Our town is not the only one with this issue, they are really beat up all over.”

Lynn Lokken of the Town of Sylvester suggested the state surplus could be used to help fund rural road projects. She added that the surplus could go to help fund education in the state.

Dan Moehn, Town of Sylvester Chair, said he didn’t realize how bad the rural roads were until he joined the town board and understood money to help road projects is sorely needed.

In addition to road aid, Marklein took questions about his recent move to pull a livestock siting bill from the floor of the state senate. Marklein had been an author of the bill, which he said during early consideration had wide support. However, toward the end of the discussions just a week ago, one supporter of the bill wanted to change language in it that would have diminished local control towns and counties have over livestock siting.

“The bill lost the support of the towns and counties when that happened and it lost me, too,” Marklein said. “It’s dead until next session, but it’s not going to go away.”

Marklein said he was interested in portions of the livestock siting bill, which took the pressure off towns to do technical evaluations for siting applications and instead placed those responsibilities on the Department of Trade, Agriculture and Consumer Protection. Marklein said the local control aspect of the legislation is important and elements in the legislature need to take it up again to get it right.

Phyllis Ziegler of Monroe said she believed education in the state would benefit from surplus in the budget, but added that improvements to local roads were important, too.

At least three speakers took Republicans in the state senate to task for ousting Brad Pfaff as the sitting Secretary of DATCP. Derek Hoesly of Monroe called Pfaff’s ouster a “partisan vote.” Moehn said the move to remove Pfaff, which took place late last year, “set us back.”

Pfaff had criticized Senate Republicans for not releasing aid to farmers with mental health needs. They responded by voting against his confirmation as DATCP Secretary, which was effectively firing Pfaff from his position. Marklein didn’t have a response to the comments about Pfaff’s removal.

Dan Williams, the director of Green County Human Services, and Emma Peters of Green County Adult Protective Services, both spoke to Marklein about ongoing initiatives that need assistance. Williams said rural areas need more financial help because they don’t have the population growth necessary to build support services for their communities. Peters outlined a four-county initiative to locate a dementia stabilization unit at Pleasant View Nursing Home in Monroe.

Marklein listened to questions for an hour and spoke with some township officials after the event ended.