ST. FRANCIS - With tax bills arriving at homes across the state, Gov. Scott Walker on Monday touted the elimination of the state portion of the property tax.

Walker, running for his third full term next year, has made property tax relief the centerpiece of his political message.

"For the first time since 1931, there is no state property tax bill being collected," Walker said.

State property taxes took up a small portion of a homeowner's tax bill. Walker signed the Legislature's budget that eliminated the state's $89 million property tax used for forestry programs.

Overall, taxes on the median value home worth $160,600 were to remain flat this year at $2,851 and then were anticipated to drop $22 next year, according to the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office.

Walker also scoffed at media reports that House Speaker Paul Ryan, the Republican from Janesville, was considering retirement after the 2018 election.

"He's clearly not going anywhere," Walker said. "He's going to be around and I anticipate he'll be on the ballot come next fall."

Walker responded to a Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo that $134 million from highway projects around the state could be used to convert several local roads around the Foxconn factory site in Racine into state highways.

Walker said the state has been able to move up road projects, even with the Foxconn development.

"We don't anticipate anything taking away from other road projects across the state," he said.

Walker defended his administration's review and handling of a 2014 incident at the state’s Northwoods juvenile prison in which a teen prisoner's arm was injured after guards bent back the inmate's wrist and brought him to his knees.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that federal prosecutors have identified two former guards as targets of the wide-ranging investigation into activities at Lincoln Hills School for Boys north of Wausau.

More:Federal prosecutors identify two former guards as targets in Lincoln Hills investigation

He said the fact that the guards are "former members of the staff is reflective of how serious they took the situation."

"Clearly, the fact that they're no longer a part of the Department of Corrections staff at that facility shows, bottom line, that the Department of Corrections under our direction, at any institution, wants to make sure that people are treated in a way that ensures the staff is safe, the visitors are safe and offenders are safe."