Wisconsin 's budget standoff was brought to an end last week when Governor Doyle signed a compromise spending bill passed earlier by both houses of the state legislature. The bill's signing brings to a close a three-and-a-half month stretch during which Wisconsin was without a 2007-09 state budget.

The budget passed by the legislature imposed a property tax limit on the technical colleges that limited operational levy increases to 4% per year. However, Governor Doyle used his veto pen to eliminate the property tax limit, citing the important role the technical colleges play in economic and workforce development.

“These restrictive limits threaten the ability of the Wisconsin Technical College System to help Wisconsin 's economy thrive,” wrote Governor Doyle in his veto message. “If technical colleges do not have the ability to respond to the rapidly changing needs of businesses in Wisconsin , economic growth will suffer.”

“These levy limits also hinder educational attainment and job training. The limits on technical college levies will require students to pay more for classes or reduce the course availability at the technical colleges. In either case, this diminishes the state's ability to provide individuals with the skills necessary to improve their earnings and compete for better paying jobs.”

Elimination of the technical college property tax limit was the only budget veto lobbied by WEAC. Click here see WEAC's letter to Governor Doyle opposing the property tax limit.

In addition to preserving districts' levy authority, the 2007-09 state budget triples funding for Workforce Advancement Training Grants, the incumbent worker training program created by Governor Doyle in 2005. Funding for the grants will double from $1 million to $2 million in 2007-08 and then increase to $3 million in 2008-09.

The Legislature required that a limited portion of the training grant monies be set aside for small businesses – businesses with no more than 100 employees and total annual income of no more than $10 million. However, Governor Doyle vetoed this provision, citing his objection to different grant criteria for small businesses.

The budget bill does require the technical colleges to lapse $1 million in the 2007-09 biennium. This is a significant improvement from the Assembly version of the budget, which required a total of $14 million in base budget cuts, including a 5% cut in general state aid. Here it should be noted that a lapse differs from an outright cut; unlike a cut, a lapse is not permanent. The $1 million lapse is returned to the technical colleges' base budget in the 2009-11 biennium.