16.50 Departmental estimates.

(1) Expenditures.

(a) Each department except the legislature and the courts shall prepare and submit to the secretary an estimate of the amount of money which it proposes to expend, encumber or distribute under any appropriation in ch. 20. The department of administration shall prepare and submit estimates for expenditures from appropriations under ss. 20.855, 20.865, 20.866 and 20.867. The secretary may waive the submission of estimates of other than administrative expenditures from such funds as he or she determines, but the secretary shall not waive submission of estimates for expenditure of any amount designated as a refund of an expenditure under s. 20.001 (5). Estimates shall be prepared in such form, at such times and for such time periods as the secretary requires. Revised and supplemental estimates may be presented at any time under rules promulgated by the secretary.

(b) This subsection does not apply to appropriations under ss. 20.255 (2) (ac), 20.835, and 20.865 (4).

(2) Action thereon by secretary. The secretary shall examine each such estimate to determine whether appropriations are available therefor and expenditures under the appropriations can be made without incurring danger of exhausting the appropriations before the end of the appropriation period and whether there will be sufficient revenue to meet such contemplated expenditures except as provided in sub. (7). The secretary also shall examine each estimate to assure as nearly as possible that the proposed plan of program execution reflects the intentions of the joint committee on finance, legislature and governor, as expressed by them in the budget determinations. If satisfied that such estimate meets these tests, the secretary shall approve the estimate; otherwise he or she shall disapprove the estimate, in whole or in part, as the facts require. If the secretary is satisfied that an estimate for any period is more than sufficient for the execution of the normal functions of a department, he or she may modify or withhold approval of the estimate. This section shall be strictly construed by the secretary to the end that such budget determinations and policy decisions reflected by such determinations be implemented to the fullest extent possible within the concepts of proper management.

(3) Limitation of force and salaries.

(a) No department, except the legislature or the courts, may increase the pay of any employee, expend money, or incur any obligation except in accordance with the estimate that is submitted to the secretary as provided in sub. (1) and approved by the secretary or the governor.

(b) No change in the number of full-time equivalent positions authorized through the biennial budget process or other legislative act may be made without the approval of the joint committee on finance, except for position changes made by the governor under s. 16.505 (1) (c), (2), or (2j), by the investment board under s. 16.505 (2g), or by the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin System under s. 16.505 (2m) or (2p).

(c) The secretary may withhold, in total or in part, the funding for any position, as defined in s. 230.03 (11), as well as the funding for part-time or limited term employees until such time as the secretary determines that the filling of the position or the expending of funds is consistent with s. 16.505 and with the intent of the legislature as established by law or in budget determinations, or the intent of the joint committee on finance in creating or abolishing positions under s. 13.10, the intent of the governor in creating or abolishing positions under s. 16.505 (1) (c) or (2), or the intent of the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin System in creating or abolishing positions under s. 16.505 (2m) or (2p). Until the release of funding occurs, recruitment or certification for the position may not be undertaken.

(d) The secretary shall submit a quarterly report to the joint committee on finance of any position changes made by the governor under s. 16.505 (1) (c).

(e) No pay increase may be approved unless it is at the rate or within the pay ranges prescribed in the compensation plan or as provided in a collective bargaining agreement under subch. V of ch. 111.

(f) At the request of the administrator of the division of personnel management in the department, the secretary of administration may authorize the temporary creation of pool or surplus positions under any source of funds if the director determines that temporary positions are necessary to maintain adequate staffing levels for high turnover classifications, in anticipation of attrition, to fill positions for which recruitment is difficult. Surplus or pool positions authorized by the secretary shall be reported quarterly to the joint committee on finance in conjunction with the report required under s. 16.54 (8).

(4) Appeals to governor. Any department feeling itself aggrieved by the refusal of the secretary to approve any estimate, or any item therein, may appeal from the secretary's decision to the governor, who, after a hearing and such investigation as the governor deems necessary, may set aside or modify such decision.

(5) Disbursements. The secretary may not draw a warrant for payment of any expenditures incurred by any department nor may any department make any expenditure for which the approval of the secretary or the governor is necessary under this section, including any expenditure under s. 20.867, unless the expenditure was made in accordance with an estimate submitted to and approved by the secretary or by the governor. In the event that the secretary determines that previously authorized expenditures will exceed revenues in the current or forthcoming fiscal year by more than 0.5 percent of the estimated general purpose revenue appropriations for that fiscal year, he or she may not decline to approve an estimate or to draw a warrant under this subsection, but shall instead proceed under sub. (7).

(6) Proportional spending. If the secretary determines that expenditures of general purpose or segregated fund revenues are utilized to match revenues received under s. 16.54 or 20.001 (2) (b) for the purposes of combined program expenditure, the secretary may require that disbursements of the general purpose revenue and corresponding segregated revenue be in direct proportion to the amount of program revenue or corresponding segregated revenue which is available or appropriated in ch. 20 or as condition of a grant or contract. If the secretary makes such a determination, the agency shall incorporate the necessary adjustments into the expenditure plans provided for in sub. (1).

(7) Revenue shortfall.

(a) If following the enactment of the biennial budget act in any biennium the secretary determines that previously authorized expenditures will exceed revenues in the current or forthcoming fiscal year by more than one-half of one percent of the estimated general purpose revenue appropriations for that fiscal year, he or she may not take any action under sub. (2) and shall immediately notify the governor, the presiding officers of each house of the legislature and the joint committee on finance.

(b) Following such notification, the governor shall submit a bill containing his or her recommendations for correcting the imbalance between projected revenues and authorized expenditures, including a recommendation as to whether moneys should be transferred from the budget stabilization fund to the general fund. If the legislature is not in a floorperiod at the time of the secretary's notification, the governor shall call a special session of the legislature to take up the matter of the projected revenue shortfall and the governor shall submit his or her bill for consideration at that session.

History: 1971 c. 270; 1973 c. 333; 1975 c. 39; 1977 c. 29, 196, 418; 1979 c. 32, 34; 1981 c. 20, 27, 30, 314; 1983 a. 27 ss. 70, 71a, 2202 (42); 1985 a. 332 s. 251 (6); 1987 a. 4, 27; 1989 a. 31, 336; 1991 a. 316; 1993 a. 16; 1995 a. 27; 1997 a. 27; 1999 a. 9; 2001 a. 16; 2003 a. 33 ss. 173, 174, 9160; 2005 a. 25, 149; 2009 a. 28; 2011 a. 10, 32; 2013 a. 166; 2015 a. 55.

The secretary is not authorized by s. 16.50 (2) to reduce payments to municipalities under s. 79.03, 1979 stats. Milwaukee v. Lindner, 98 Wis. 2d 624, 297 N.W.2d 828 (1980).

The secretary is not authorized by sub. (2) to reduce payments under the school aids program. School District of LaFarge v. Lindner, 100 Wis. 2d 111, 301 N.W.2d 196 (1981).