Author: jnweaver

Gov. Jim Doyle will present his second budget to state lawmakers tonight, aiming not only to balance the books amid a projected $1.6 billion deficit, but balance scores of competing interests and priorities for the next two years.

Doyle plans to balance the budget without making the kind of large-scale cuts he did two years ago, according to Administration Secretary Marc Marotta.

….For the UW, Doyle is expected to reverse two years of major reductions.

Gov. Jim Doyle will set an optimistic tone Tuesday when he outlines a biennial budget plan full of big numbers and policy changes. But state employees will be searching for hints to the eternal question of “where’s mine?”

About half of the state’s classified employees have gone nearly two years without a pay increase – their unions are operating under 2001-2003 contracts.

Is the public information provided by state public relations professionals vital information that the public needs? Or is it “spin” that builds the images of state agencies and colleges and elected officials?

Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonprofit agency that keeps a close eye on state government, says the extent and purpose of public relations activities generally depend on the person doing them and the head of the agency or institution where they work.

As the state of Wisconsin axed jobs and closed service centers amid a fiscal crisis during the past four years, state departments, universities and colleges kept an extensive list of public relations employees, who provide information to the media and state residents.

Annual salaries and benefits for public relations and public information positions in state agencies, the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin Technical College System came to more than $12 million for 208 people as of Dec. 1, 2004, the date of a Capital Times survey.

Gov. Jim Doyle today ordered all state office buildings to be totally smoke free and suggested the Legislature enact a law doing the same for all local government buildings.

The executive order gives Cabinet secretaries 30 days to make all state buildings “completely smoke free,” meaning that designated smoking areas now allowed under current law will have to be eliminated.

The jockeying has already begun over the spending plan for the University of Wisconsin System, even before Gov. Jim Doyle fills in a big piece of the puzzle on Tuesday. He will unveil his proposed 2005-’07 state budget, which will specify the allotment UW will get in general funds.

Gov. Jim Doyle will recommend abolishing about 1,800 more state jobs over the next two years when he gives the Legislature his proposed budget Tuesday, taking one more step toward his long-range goal of eliminating 10,000 jobs.

After a 36 percent tuition increase in the last legislative session, Rep. Rob Kreibich is proposing a bill to cap tuition in the University System over the next two years.

Kreibich says the bill will limit tuition and fee increases in the next budget to three percent. He says the cap is needed in order; to make higher education in Wisconsin affordable and accessible to all, and a $1.6 million budget shortfall likely means the $15 million in general purpose revenue requested for financial aid will not be provided.

A state assembly member is pushing a bill to cap tuition and fee increases at the University of Wisconsin System for two years.

A new report from the University of Wisconsin System highlights numerous existing ways the universities save millions through operating efficiencies, but also acknowledges there’s room for millions more in savings.

The state would sell some buildings, streamline agencies’ human resources and computer departments and buy more supplies in bulk to save $96 million under Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget proposal, administration officials say.

The moves would help fill Wisconsin’s $1.6 billion deficit and free up more money for programs, Administration Secretary Mark Marotta said Wednesday.