MADISON, Wis. - Here's a look at what's in and out of the two-year state budget plan the Legislature's budget-writing committee is expected to finish this week:
WHAT'S IN:
EDUCATION:
- Increasing state funding for K-12 public schools by 2 percent a year. That would result in the state meeting 65 percent of schools' costs next year and 64.9 percent the following year. State aid to schools covers 66.1 percent this year.
- Allowing schools to exceed spending limits to pay for hiring security guards.
TAXES AND FEES:
- Increasing the cost to register a car from $55 to $75 a year. The cost for trucks would also go up, depending on the size of the truck.
- Raising driver's license fees by $10.
- Increasing a fee to dump garbage in landfills from $3 per ton to $6 per ton.
- Raising boat registration fees by 15 percent.
- Doubling the real estate transfer fee, paid by people selling their houses, from $3 to $6 per $1,000 of sale value. That equates to $1,010 on a $169,000 home, the state median.
- Doubling the cap on local property tax increases from 2 percent to 4 percent, or the percentage of growth in new construction in a community, whichever is greater.
- Imposing a $5 fee if small business owners choose to file sales tax returns, typically due quarterly, on paper instead of electronically.
HEALTH AND WELFARE:
- Creating a new state agency to handle programs for children and needy families.
- Allowing deadbeat parents and unemployed people who don't go through a job training program to get food stamps.
- Expanding the Family Care program, which currently provides long-term care for the elderly and disabled, from just 10,500 people in seven counties to statewide.
WHAT'S OUT:
- Reducing how much schools could spend by $290 million over two years. The Republican-backed measure, tied to an increase in state aid, was floated as a way to cut property taxes.
- Renovating student unions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Eau Claire and building new dorms throughout the university system.
- Building Hmong cultural centers in Madison and Milwaukee and a Civil War museum in Kenosha.
- Finishing a massive project to update and consolidate the state's computer servers.
- Cost-saving measures in public assistance programs, such as freezing provider payment rates, increasing family copays, making it tougher for families to qualify and a waiting list for children if funding runs out.
- Creating a new five-star rating system for the state's 5,700 licensed child care facilities.
- Requiring 70 percent of schools' spending to be dedicated to in-classroom costs rather than transportation, administration and building maintenance and operation.
- Spending $30 million over the next two years to pay for grants and loans to further the develop renewable energy resources.
- Increasing the fees for copies of vital records such as birth and marriage certificates and divorce decrees.
- Raising car rental fees in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties to pay for a commuter rail line connecting those cities.
- Increasing the elk-hunting license fee. There is no elk hunting season in the state.
WHAT'S LEFT:
- Imposing a 0.8 percent tax on state hospital revenues.
- Increasing the cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack and raising the tax on other tobacco products.
- Using about $50 million a year in tobacco settlement money to increase anti-smoking initiatives and treat illnesses related to smoking.
- Increasing funding for the University of Wisconsin System by $225 million, with the money going toward ever-increasing expenses and bolstering financial aid.
- Expanding the state's health insurance program to cover to all children, regardless of family income.
- Increasing the tax deduction for college tuition.
- Increasing in the tax deduction for certain child care expenses.
