On one thing, all state lawmakers who represent Columbia County agree: Making a state budget is neither pretty nor painless.

Rep. Fred Clark, D-Baraboo, likens it to giving birth.

"It's a long process," he said. "It starts slowly, and works through a lot of phases."

Rep. Keith Ripp, R-Lodi, calls to mind the old saying that some attribute to German politician Otto von Bismarck: Laws are like sausages, in that it's better not to see them being made.

"It was an ugly process," Ripp said.

Both Ripp, who represents the 47th Assembly District, and Clark, who represents the 42nd Assembly District, just finished their first state budget process since taking office in January.

But even lawmakers who have previously been in budget battles, such as Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, and Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, expressed concern about the effects of the budget for the coming biennium, which will begin Wednesday.

This is the first time since 1977 that a state budget has been approved by both Legislative houses and signed by the governor before the start of the biennium.

But the lawmakers said people will feel the effects of the new budget very, very quickly.

Expect taxes to go up, Olsen said. As the state cuts back on things like aid to public education and revenue sharing for counties, cities, towns and villages, some of those losses - but by no means all - will be made up through higher property taxes, he said.

Add to that a 75-cent monthly tax on all telephone lines, including land lines and wireless phones.

Instead of snipping expenditures for certain state functions, Olsen said, the Legislature should have taken a hard look at which functions the state government must keep and which it should consider stopping. Examples of possible places to cut that Olsen cited include some human services and land stewardship programs that entail the state acquiring land.

"This was a tough budget, that's for sure," he said. "But rather than looking at what government does and what government should do, they just cut across the board."

When Clark asserted that "there's a lot not to like in this budget," he offered examples.

Counties, he said, will be asked to make do with less state money for human services, some of which are state mandated. "Their ability to reach out to people with mental and physical disabilities, and people who are hungry, will be lessened."

Public schools, too, will get less money from the state than they had been anticipating, Miller said.

Some of the shortfall will be made up with money from the federal economic stimulus package, he said, but even though this would result in some districts getting more money than they got in the last biennium, it's still not enough to cover the inflation-related cost increases just to keep existing school programs going.

Not all the budget news is bad, Miller said.

The budget includes new money for the state's technical college system, to offer job training for displaced workers.

It includes money intended to bolster the state's sagging manufacturing industry by seeking opportunities for "green, renewable energy" - including the possibility of manufacturing wind turbines in Wisconsin.

And, the budget includes money to allow some road and building projects to begin ahead of schedule, Miller noted.

"Jobs anywhere in the state," he said, "help the whole state."

That may be, said Ripp, but taxpayers shouldn't forget that the new budget is being propped up largely with approximately $2.1 billion in federal stimulus money - which is not likely to be available when it's time for lawmakers to craft a new budget two years from now.

"We still have a deficit," he said. "And I think we will be dealing with this budget again in nine months or so, because there are going to be shortfalls."

Ripp said he did not appreciate how much of the budget process was conducted behind closed doors.

Furthermore, he said, the state budget will have the effect of passing costs (and taxes) from the state to the local government levels.

"The extra taxes may not be noticed this year," he said, "but in 2010 people will see the effect of it."

Clark agreed. "Without a doubt," he said, "towns and villages will hurt from reduced revenue sharing."

Also, he said, he wished he could have discussed with regional Department of Transportation officials the possible effects of cuts on DOT aid to counties, which already have resulted with less frequent roadside mowing, less patrolling of highways to check for hazards such as potholes and no litter pickup for highways that are not part of the state's Adopt-a-Highway program.

"Dead deer on the side of the road, and weeds 3 feet tall - at some point, these create hazardous conditions."

ljerde@capitalnewspapers.com

745-3587