BUDGET-CUT IDEAS WOULDN'T CLOSE GAP

State Agencies' Plans Are Mostly Vague, Unpalatable

Madison - If state agencies had to cut their spending by 10%,
Department of Transportation officials say they would ask permission
to stop printing up to 1.8 million state highway maps, saving $232,500.

But because the DOT is required by law to print the maps, that request
can be turned down by Gov. Jim Doyle and the state Legislature. A
picture of Doyle and his wife, Jessica, is on the maps, after all, and
legislators get as many maps as they want, put their names on them and
often hand them out to constituents like candy.

State transportation officials also say they would save $585,000 more
by requiring one license plate on each vehicle, instead of two. But
every time the one-plate option has been floated in the past, it has
been fought by companies that sell raw materials used to make the plates.

Although Doyle ordered state agencies to list how they would cut
spending by 10%, a Journal Sentinel review of their responses showed
that the potential cuts fell far short of $1.6 billion - the newest
estimate of the gap between how much state officials say they need to
run their agencies through mid-2009 and how much tax collections and
other income will total over that period.

"I would hope they would find other (savings), besides a service to
our citizens," said state Sen. Bob Wirch (D-Kenosha), referring to the
proposed elimination of the maps.

"People pay a lot of taxes in this state," said Wirch, who gives out
thousands of maps each year. "I think they've got a right to get a
map. . . . They'd have to pay for it, otherwise."

The spending cuts listed by state agencies were much less than the
$1.6 billion potential deficit for several reasons. Parts of the
University of Wisconsin System and some other state agencies were
exempt from the request; some small agencies said they simply could
not comply with the request; some agencies - the Educational
Communications Board, for example - submitted cuts that did not total
10% of their budgets; and the request from one major agency, the state
Department of Natural Resources, had not yet been submitted.

Also the state Department of Revenue took a unique approach, declining
to identify budget cuts.

Instead, state Revenue Secretary Mike Morgan recommended that he be
allowed to hire seven more tax auditors and agents, who each would
bring in an average of $1.2 million a year. He also proposed changes
he says would boost lottery sales by $29 million.

Because it's "pretty early" in the budget process, there is no way to
know which - if any - of the possible cuts the governor might
recommend, said state Budget Director Dave Schmiedicke.

But the potential cuts became more important last week, when state
officials disclosed the $1.6 billion possible deficit by mid-2009.

Doyle and legislators vowed to close that deficit without raising
taxes, however. But the governor also acknowledged this week that
doing so will be difficult, as he re-examines state programs and
whether they should be continued.

Potential cuts identified by state agencies included:

Public Service Commission: The agency that regulates utilities said it
could save $735,400 by not replacing veteran employees expected to
retire by June 2009.

Department of Workforce Development: $2.3 million in cuts over the next
two years to migrant camp inspection and equal rights and child support
enforcement programs. Agency officials did not estimate how many jobs
would be lost under the cuts.

Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection: Save $1.8 million over the
next two years by making local governments do health inspections of
supermarkets, grocery stores and delis. The agency also said it would
use new technology to inspect dairy products and dairy plants.

Department of Administration: Cut $3 million from planning in the first
of the two-year budget and $10 million from weatherization programs in
the second.

Department of Corrections: Save $7.76 million over two years with
unspecified cuts in "supplies and services."

Department of Commerce: Save $1.2 million in cuts by reducing its
contacts with home builders, "streamlining" the building-safety program
in unspecified ways, and cuts to economic development gifts and grants.

Department of Health and Family Services: Cut its state tax subsidy by
$5 million in the year starting July 1, and by $8 million in the
following year. But changes would result from either switching funding
sources - from the state to federal government - or by new, unspecified
administrative changes.

"None of these changes would affect benefits or service delivery to
our clients," said Fredi Bove, the department's director of the Office
of Strategic Finance.

Public defender's office: Said it would save $1.2 million over the
next two years, if state laws were changed so that first-offense
possession of drug paraphernalia and the least-serious drugs were no
longer misdemeanor crimes but would instead be violations of local
ordinances. The office is not recommending those controversial
changes, however, said office spokesman Randy Kraft.

Tourism Department: $400,000 in cuts over two years to the $13.9 million
program that markets Wisconsin nationally; $10,000 savings by having the
department secretary no longer fly on state planes, and $7,300 saving by
closing the governor's northern Wisconsin office.

Transportation Department: In addition to no longer printing highway
maps, and requiring one license plate per vehicle, DOT said it would cut
$8.7 million in engineering contracts in the first year of the budget
and nearly $20 million the second year. The department typically spends
about $120 million a year on those contracts.

Kevin Chesnik, the transportation systems development administrator,
said the agency would tighten the time on some contracts and turn over
other work to state engineers. A 2004 Department of Transportation
study found that state workers cost 18% less than consultants.

The department's engineering staff of roughly 1,400 employees would be
able to handle the increased workload without much difficulty, Chesnik
said.