With the confirmation of major budget proposal components by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Monday, steps by the UW System to accommodate the 2001-'03 budget shortfall are coming into focus.
The nonpartisan analytical bureau, which typically summarizes the statutory language of legislative proposals for state Assembly and Senate leaders, assessed Gov. Scott McCallum's plan to recover from the state's projected $1.1 billion deficit.
John Stott, a fiscal analyst for the bureau, said the UW System's position under the recovery plan is precarious because, despite the $50 million cut and the 10 percent tuition hike limit, the university system has already spent at a level accounting for a 7 percent tuition increase.
\The university would not be able to offset the cut with the tuition limit increase of 10 percent,"" he said. ""They're already committed system-wide about 7 percent increase in tuition for things such as pay plan increases, health care cost increases. Even without budget cuts, they'd have to have a 7 percent increase.""
Stott added that several student supporters of the proposal mistakenly believed the increase limit included last fall's 8.4 percent hike at the UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee and 7 percent at other system campuses.
""Right after the governor's discussion of his proposed budget, the United Council of Students had come out with a press release praising the increase. They had misinterpreted the governor's statement to the effect that the 10 percent increase would be over the two years, including this year,"" Stott said. ""They said, 'Well if that's the case, since we had this 8-point-whatever percent tuition increase at Madison this year, that means next year, we'll only have another 1.9 or something.' But that is not how the statutes were written.""
Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, said the plan's progress has been slow, as both parties are reluctant to introduce it into the Legislature.
""The Republicans are [hesitant] because it's a Republican governor and the Republicans should come forth,"" Risser said. ""The Republicans in the Assembly think the Senate Democrats ought to start with it since you can't pass a bill without the Democrats, and if the Democrats don't like it, you should come up with an alternative.""
A spokesperson for the governor said the proposal's advocates hope to accelerate its introduction in the Legislature.
""Today, the governor sent separate letters to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala and Speaker of [the Assembly] Scott Jensen urging them to take up the bill immediately, and that he didn't have any preference which chamber it started in,"" said Tim Roby, the governor's director of communications.
He also said alternative plans fail to address the entirety of the shortfall.
""At this point, Republican legislators, somewhat mixed in the Senate and Assembly, have talked about freezing spending levels,"" Roby said. ""But that only gets you a third of the way there, to the $1.1 billion point, and the governor's plan is the only one out there that addresses the entire $1.1 billion deficit.""
