Budget: NOT Right for Wisconsin

It's a done deal.

Jim Doyle signed the new budget.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle signed the new state budget into law this morning, after loosening a 2% property tax levy limit on local governments that Republicans added to control property taxes.

Doyle said his veto took the levy limit to 3.86% for cities, towns, villages and counties in 2008; for 2009, the levy limit will stay at the 2% passed by the Legislature this week.

Explaining why he raised the amount of property taxes local governments can levy this fall, Doyle said they needed "a little more leeway" to protect police, fire and other emergency services. Many local governments - including Milwaukee - had already prepared their 2008 operating budgets that exceeded a 2% increase, the governor added.

The new limit of 3.86% will raise the December tax bill on the median-valued Wisconsin home by $93 - or about 3.4%, said state Budget Director David Schmiedicke. That is $13 more than under the budget bill passed by the Legislature on Tuesday.

Under that scenario, the owner of a home assessed for tax purposes at $170,305 will get a property tax bill for $2,827 in December. Schmiedicke said that bill would go up $14 more - or less than 1% - in December 2008.

With another veto, Doyle also killed a 4% levy limit Republican legislators had placed on vocational colleges.

In his veto message, Doyle said a 4% limit would have threatened the ability of vocational colleges to train and retrain the state's workers. "If technical colleges do not have the ability to respond to the rapidly changing needs of businesses in Wisconsin, economic growth will suffer," he added.

Also vetoed was a surprise provision - which no legislator has admitted sponsoring - the ability for retailers to offer free samples of liquor, and an accelerated construction schedule for State Highway 23 in Fond du Lac and Sheboygan counties.

..."It was certainly a difficult road to get to this point, but in the end Democrats and Republicans came together to do what's right for Wisconsin," Doyle said. "With this budget we create real opportunity for every Wisconsin citizen - the opportunity to go as far as their hard work and talent will take them."

I disagree.

I don't think this budget is "what's right for Wisconsin."

How could Doyle say that after vetoing the provision to give retailers the ability to offer free shots of liquor?

True, Doyle never made this promise to the people of Wisconsin:

"Going forward, my mind will be closed to every free sample suggestion -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- prevent retailers from giving customers shots of hard liquor."

Even though Doyle didn't lie about the free shots, the whole thing still ticks me off.

Oh, and the part about raising taxes...

That ticks me off, too.