MON AM News: Fewer bankers rate state economy as ‘excellent’ in recent survey; Baldwin urging Navy to ‘uphold its promise’ to WI shipbuilders

December 22, 2025

— Fewer Wisconsin bank leaders rated the state economy as “excellent” in the latest Wisconsin Bankers Association survey, though expectations for the coming six months remain stable.

The group recently rolled out its biannual Economic Conditions Survey of bank CEOs in Wisconsin. It found 79% of respondents rated the current health of the state economy as good — unchanged from the mid-year 2025 survey.

But the share of CEOs rating the state economy as “excellent” dropped from 7% in the previous survey to 0% in the latest one. At the same time, the percentage rating Wisconsin’s economy as “fair” rose from 15% to 21% between the two surveys.

Looking ahead to the next six months, 28% of respondents expect the state economy to grow while 17% expect it to weaken and 55% expect it to stay the same. Those values have been largely consistent in the last two surveys, with a slight trend toward more optimism around growth in the latest survey.

“The survey responses reveal notable bright spots in Wisconsin’s economy as we move into 2026, even as concerns about costs remain,” WBA President and CEO Rose Oswald Poels said in a statement.

Bankers were also asked about current demand for various loan categories, indicating greater demand for commercial real estate loans in particular. While the share of those rating this category as excellent dipped from 11% to 9% in the latest survey, the share of those rating it as good jumped from 51% to 69%. And those rating it fair fell from 36% to 21%.

Meanwhile, the picture for residential real estate loans also brightened somewhat, with those rating the category as poor falling from 27% to 17% and those saying it’s fair rising from 42% to 57%. Those rating it as good or excellent were largely unchanged at 22% and 4%, respectively, compared to 25% and 5% in the previous survey.

But agricultural loans saw a downturn between the two most recent surveys, with the share of CEOs rating the category as poor going from 19% to 32%, and those rating it as fair falling from 62% to 50%. Little change was seen in those rating it as good or excellent, with 17% and 0%, respectively, compared to 17% and 2%.

Respondents pointed to consumer spending trends and low unemployment as areas of strength for the state, while highlighting Wisconsin’s performance in key sectors such as manufacturing, residential construction, health care and biotech.

Top concerns facing banks’ business customers going into 2026 include inflation worries, housing affordability, workforce challenges and tariffs, WBA says.

See the full results.

— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is urging the Navy to build at least some of its newly announced frigate class ships in Wisconsin, in order to “uphold its promise” to shipyards in the state.

The Madison Dem on Friday issued the statement on the planned FF(X) smaller combatant ships. Her remarks come after the Trump administration earlier this month announced it would reduce the number of Constellation-class frigate warships being ordered, impacting shipbuilders in Marinette, Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay.

Baldwin says the Trump administration is “pulling the rug out from under thousands of skilled workers” by scaling back its plans for the Constellation-class ships.

“Instead of following through with work already underway, Donald Trump has decided to throw in the towel and start from scratch — with no guarantee of better results,” she said.

In announcing the details for the new ships, U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan said they’re planned for deployment in 2028.

“To expand capacity and production across our maritime industrial base, we will acquire these ships using a lead yard, and competitive follow-on strategy for multi-yard construction,” he said Friday in a statement. “Shipyards will be measured against one outcome: delivering combat power to the Fleet as fast as possible.”

Meanwhile, Baldwin is also warning against using any of the Navy’s money that was meant to build the Constellation-class ships in Wisconsin for the new frigate without approval from Congress, arguing doing so would be illegal.

“It is only fair for the Trump administration to use every dollar meant to build the Constellation-class in Wisconsin for other Made in Wisconsin ships,” she said.

See the release.

— The latest figures from the Port of Green Bay indicate a “strong rebound” from earlier in the shipping season, port officials announced.

The port had about 160,000 tons of cargo in November, marking a 5% increase from November 2024, according to the port’s latest monthly update. Officials say the port is in a “strong position” as the year comes to a close.

Shipping totals from March and April were down 64% from the prior year, but Port Director Dean Haen says cargo volumes have improved over the course of the season.

“We’ve seen steady momentum month to month and are focused on finishing the season as strong as possible, recognizing that early winter conditions may shorten the remaining shipping window,” he said.

As of November, year-to-date shipping totals remain 12% below the same point of 2024. But officials say the progress that led to this point has put this year’s performance “within reach of annual averages.”

Top commodities that moved through the port last month include limestone, petroleum products, cement, salt, wood pulp and liquid asphalt.

See the release and get more port data here.

— The Universities of Wisconsin’s tuition reserves grew by its largest margin in four years, according to a WisPolitics analysis.

Still, a top GOP lawmaker who first raised concerns about the system’s reserves a dozen years ago said things are now at a “reasonable level.”

Unrestricted tuition reserves grew by more than 18%, or $46 million, over the last year, to $294 million at the end of the 2025 fiscal year.

That’s the largest increase since 2021, when end-of-year reserves grew by $106 million, and the second-highest year-over-year growth since the university system began regularly reporting its end-of-year balances.

Unrestricted funds are system dollars that are not subject to external requirements – like donor stipulations on a gift or targeted federal grants – on how funds can be spent.

Total unrestricted fund balances, which includes reserve funds for tuition dollars, student fees, federal indirect research cost grants and other revenues, sat around $1.1 billion, the fourth year running that number has cleared 10 figures.

But the fund still has less purchasing power than the $1.1 billion – equivalent to $1.5 billion today – that UW held in its reserves in 2013, when lawmakers criticized the university system for raising tuition while holding hundreds of millions in reserve.

In a report released earlier this month, UW system officials attributed the recent increase in its reserves to conservative spending to cope with federal funding interruptions and legislative proposals to cut state support, as well as concerns about rising inflation.

See the full story.

— UW Health’s newly launched Living Donor Initiative aims to boost the number of donors it serves by 20% within two years.

The health system recently announced the program at the UW Health Transplant Center, which had about 100 living liver and kidney donors last year.

It aims to increase community outreach and other education to achieve greater awareness about the need for organ donation, through in-person efforts at “wellness fairs” and other community events in Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The initiative also has a goal of expanding related research UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

The UW Health Transplant Center in Madison has also added a living donor recipient navigator position, meant to inform kidney and liver transplant candidates about living donation and help them find potential donors.

Dr. Dixon Kaufman, the center’s director and a professor of surgery at the UW SMPH, calls living organ donation “the gift of a lifetime.” He notes a kidney from a living donor often lasts longer than one from a deceased donor.

“We see the urgent need for more donors every day, which motivated us to launch this initiative,” Kaufman said in the announcement.

UW Health says more than 90,000 people are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant nationwide, and 11 of those patients die every day waiting for a donated organ. Meanwhile, nearly 9,000 people are waiting for a liver transplant, the release shows.

Meanwhile, the initiative also aims to support research on the long-term health of living donors, according to Dr. Didier Mandelbrot, medical director of the UW Health Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Programs. Mandelbrot’s research focuses on how living kidney donors are evaluated to improve donor safety and transplant effectiveness.

“Living donors give so much; it is our responsibility to ensure we understand how that gift may affect their health, not just in the weeks after surgery, but for years to come,” he said.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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