On July 3 Governor Evers signed the state budget, AB 56, into law as Act 9 after making 78 partial vetoes to the bill. As explained in the July 3 Capitol Buzz, five of those vetoes directly impacted municipalities.

In a nutshell, here's how the budget signed into law affects municipalities:

--Provides status quo funding levels for shared revenue, Expenditure Restraint Program, and Payment for Municipal Services Program.

--Maintains status quo for levy limits, which remain based on a community's net new construction number and are among the most restrictive in the country.

--Provides a 10% increase in funding for General Transportation Aids (GTA), which is the second 10 percent increase to GTA in a row.

--Provides a 2% increase in mass transit operating assistance.

--Provides an increase of $13,500,000 in general obligation bonding authority for the clean water fund.

--Provides an increase of $3,550,000 in general obligation bonding authority for the safe drinking water loan program.

--Authorizes the safe drinking water loan program to provide a maximum 30-year loan term, instead of the current maximum of 20 years.

--Reduces municipal cable franchise fees by a total of 1% by January 1, 2021, while at the same time creating a state aid program to compensate municipalities for the mandated fee reductions. Thanks to a partial veto, the state aid payments do not sunset after 10 years, but are ongoing.

What's not in the state budget as signed into law?

--No preemption of municipal powers to regulate the location and operation of quarries.

--No referendum requirement for imposing of continuing a local vehicle registration fee.

--No changes to levy limits.

--No restoration of condemnation powers for bike and recreation paths.

--No increase in funding for shared revenue.

--No changes to TIF law.

--No increase in competitive bidding threshold for public construction contracts.