Wisconsin
Doyle approves $52.8 billion plan
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin schools will get another $861 million from the state over the next two years - almost twice what lawmakers approved - after Gov. Jim Doyle used his veto pen Monday to carve out the extra money from a host of GOP priorities.
Doyle also signed a series of tax cuts Republicans put into the budget, including eliminating the tax on Social Security benefits in 2008, cutting the gas tax by a penny and a new tax break for health insurance premiums.
The $52.8 billion budget also includes new limits over the next two years on the property taxes that local governments levy on homeowners and businesses, though the caps were less restrictive than those lawmakers approved.
The caps, combined with more money for schools, means the property tax bill for a median valued home, or the midpoint priced, will not go up this December and will drop $5 next year, according to Doyle's office.
Without any limits, property taxes were expected to go up $122 this year and $124 next year on a home valued at $150,500.
"We freeze property taxes by funding education. They tried to do it by cutting education," Doyle said at the executive residence before stops in Green Bay and Wauwatosa.
Doyle, a Democrat, originally proposed giving K-12 education an additional $938 million over the next two years in the budget he sent to lawmakers in February. But Republicans who control the Legislature voted to give schools $458 million more and restrict the amount of property taxes they could raise. Republican lawmakers argued it was all the state could afford with its $1.6 billion deficit without hurting other state programs.
Doyle's vetoes will result in $400 million more going to schools than lawmakers approved, on top of the $5.3 billion a year schools already receive from the state.
Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, questioned whether Doyle's property tax projections would hold true and said homeowners will be judge of whether his plan brings any meaningful relief.
But he said the governor's plan was rife with loopholes because it does not limit property taxes levied by technical colleges or cap borrowing by local governments. The GOP plan had stricter controls over three years that would have resulted in an $11 cut on the property tax bill for the average homeowner over the next two years.
Doyle's budget would limit the property taxes levied by local governments to an annual increase of 2 percent or the amount of new construction, whichever is greater. That means in many municipalities, additional tax money would come from new homes and businesses rather than existing taxpayers.
The governor is putting so much extra money into schools that the amount of money they will need from property taxes will drop, covering any increase by technical colleges and leaving the bottom line on most property tax bills unchanged.
Gard said it would be difficult to override any of Doyle's 139 vetoes, which would take a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. Republicans control the Senate 19-14 and the Assembly 60-39, both short of two-thirds the chamber.
"He's just putting it on the credit card," Gard said of Doyle's school spending. "People will pay the price for the next 20 years for the decisions he made today."
The budget Doyle signed Monday fixes the state's $1.6 billion shortfall through June 30, 2007, through spending cuts, accounting moves and fee increases. The Wisconsin Constitution requires a balanced budget, and the $52.8 billion document sets the state's spending priorities on everything from schools to prisons. It also borrows more than $1.4 billion over the next two years for building projects, roads and other expenses.
Wisconsin's governor has one of the most powerful veto authorities in the country, but he cannot simply cross out a number to create a new spending amount. Rather, they can strike out numbers and words to create new policy and spending levels.
Gard said lawmakers were studying whether Doyle overstepped his powers in the various moves he made to direct money to schools and could challenge some of the vetoes in court.
Doyle used that authority to direct money to education by nixing tax breaks for those who adopt, for parents who send their children to private schools or educate them at home, and for people who contribute to a health savings account. He took $159 million from the fund that pays for transportation and $94 million from the state's medical assistance programs that serve 583,000 elderly, poor and disabled.
Doyle said the medical assistance reduction would not cause any cuts to benefits or services for participants. Rather, it cuts by $35 million the higher reimbursement rates lawmakers approved for pharmacists, nursing homes and outpatient surgeries in the programs.
Doyle also signed a series of tax cuts Republicans put into the budget, including eliminating the tax on Social Security benefits in 2008, cutting the gas tax by a penny and a new tax break for health insurance premiums.
The $52.8 billion budget also includes new limits over the next two years on the property taxes that local governments levy on homeowners and businesses, though the caps were less restrictive than those lawmakers approved.
The caps, combined with more money for schools, means the property tax bill for a median valued home, or the midpoint priced, will not go up this December and will drop $5 next year, according to Doyle's office.
Without any limits, property taxes were expected to go up $122 this year and $124 next year on a home valued at $150,500.
"We freeze property taxes by funding education. They tried to do it by cutting education," Doyle said at the executive residence before stops in Green Bay and Wauwatosa.
Doyle, a Democrat, originally proposed giving K-12 education an additional $938 million over the next two years in the budget he sent to lawmakers in February. But Republicans who control the Legislature voted to give schools $458 million more and restrict the amount of property taxes they could raise. Republican lawmakers argued it was all the state could afford with its $1.6 billion deficit without hurting other state programs.
Doyle's vetoes will result in $400 million more going to schools than lawmakers approved, on top of the $5.3 billion a year schools already receive from the state.
Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, questioned whether Doyle's property tax projections would hold true and said homeowners will be judge of whether his plan brings any meaningful relief.
But he said the governor's plan was rife with loopholes because it does not limit property taxes levied by technical colleges or cap borrowing by local governments. The GOP plan had stricter controls over three years that would have resulted in an $11 cut on the property tax bill for the average homeowner over the next two years.
Doyle's budget would limit the property taxes levied by local governments to an annual increase of 2 percent or the amount of new construction, whichever is greater. That means in many municipalities, additional tax money would come from new homes and businesses rather than existing taxpayers.
The governor is putting so much extra money into schools that the amount of money they will need from property taxes will drop, covering any increase by technical colleges and leaving the bottom line on most property tax bills unchanged.
Gard said it would be difficult to override any of Doyle's 139 vetoes, which would take a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. Republicans control the Senate 19-14 and the Assembly 60-39, both short of two-thirds the chamber.
"He's just putting it on the credit card," Gard said of Doyle's school spending. "People will pay the price for the next 20 years for the decisions he made today."
The budget Doyle signed Monday fixes the state's $1.6 billion shortfall through June 30, 2007, through spending cuts, accounting moves and fee increases. The Wisconsin Constitution requires a balanced budget, and the $52.8 billion document sets the state's spending priorities on everything from schools to prisons. It also borrows more than $1.4 billion over the next two years for building projects, roads and other expenses.
Wisconsin's governor has one of the most powerful veto authorities in the country, but he cannot simply cross out a number to create a new spending amount. Rather, they can strike out numbers and words to create new policy and spending levels.
Gard said lawmakers were studying whether Doyle overstepped his powers in the various moves he made to direct money to schools and could challenge some of the vetoes in court.
Doyle used that authority to direct money to education by nixing tax breaks for those who adopt, for parents who send their children to private schools or educate them at home, and for people who contribute to a health savings account. He took $159 million from the fund that pays for transportation and $94 million from the state's medical assistance programs that serve 583,000 elderly, poor and disabled.
Doyle said the medical assistance reduction would not cause any cuts to benefits or services for participants. Rather, it cuts by $35 million the higher reimbursement rates lawmakers approved for pharmacists, nursing homes and outpatient surgeries in the programs.
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