MILWAUKEE -- Just in time for Halloween, Frankenstein returneth with a budget so ugly it should scare almost every Wisconsinite out of their skins.

Complete with a 21-page veto message, Gov. Jim Doyle signed the 2007-2009 budget bill Friday, which was foolishly passed by legislators earlier in the week, almost four months after its due date. Altogether, it will cost taxpayers $57.2 billion over the next couple of years.

With the exception of the 44 Republicans who voted against the budget bill, Wisconsinites should be ashamed of their elected officials.

Admittedly, I was relatively accepting of the compromise first reported a few weeks ago. After all, the majority of state government is controlled by Democratic leadership. Voters made their decisions clear during the last election cycle and it seemed that Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch and the Republicans had done as well as they could to combat the Democrats' demands. Healthy Wisconsin had been defeated, the hospital tax had been eliminated and Republican leadership had only agreed to a $1 a pack tax increase on cigarettes and a raid on the patient compensation fund.

Soon after, the detailed budget reared its ugly head. Rather than cutting government spending, it will increase by 6.6 percent, which amounts to $3.56 billion. Turns out it is also jam-packed with unnecessary pork barrel projects and fee increases. It's a shame anyone in local state government voted to pass this fiscally irresponsible budget.

Let’s take a closer look at what 23 Republicans, 37 Democrats and the governor found to be so necessary.

According to media reports, the price of getting a copy of your birth certificate will raise by $8 to cost $20. Death, marriage and divorce records will nearly triple in price at $20, as opposed to $7. There's also a 30 percent increase in vehicle registration fees, which is "twice as much as what lawmakers had earlier proposed."

One increase that stands out is the landfill-tipping fee. According to local media, accepting garbage from Duluth, Minn., has generated more than $300,000 in annual revenue to the city of Superior. Instead of embracing this revenue coming from outside of the state, rather than out of the taxpayers’ pockets, the budget has raised the landfill-tipping fee in order to "discourage Minnesota haulers from transporting trash to Wisconsin."

State Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Superior) is happy about the fee increase because a few people who live close to the landfill have complained about too many trucks passing by. However, once Minnesota decides to stop dumping in Wisconsin, those same people will be asked to make up for that $300,000. Here's an idea. If you don't like living near a landfill -- move.

Meanwhile, $10,000 is being wisely spent in Oconto County, which is in dire need of town hall decorations. One truly fails to understand how people continued to operate without new "historical photographs" with fancy frames, "conference furniture, desks, and chairs."

I'm sure everyone was doing their work sitting on the floor before, using cardboard boxes as desks while being forced to stare at blank walls. But it's the little things that count, right?

Then there's that river walk in Green Bay, which will cost Wisconsinites $2.8 million, and the $25,000 for the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua musical troupe to visit public schools. It's quite obvious that without that one musical experience, kids will be deprived of a true education. Ironically, the Big Top is a nonprofit performing arts organization.

We can also thank Jauch and Rep. Gary Sherman for the $35,000 being set aside for the use of a "wind sled" in Bayfield School Districts.

In addition to the fees and pork barrel projects, there are a few provisions included in the budget. We must not forget the one made for Mars Cheese Castle. God forbid that ugly sign be taken down for good in a highway widening project. Mars Cheese gets to break sign rules to relocate.

The Legislature also included a provision that would have allowed grocery stores to hand out liquor samples to customers. Unfortunately, that didn't make it past Doyle and his veto pen. That's a real tearjerker.

The governor felt free to make 33 of his own adjustments to the budget bill with his Frankenstein veto power that allows him to cobble together letters and numbers to insert budget items not voted on by the legislature. Doyle claims the budget "protects the taxpayer." Frankly, it doesn't and I'm finding it hard to understand how someone can lie through their teeth on such a regular basis. Does "I will not raise taxes," ring a bell?

Humorously, in a message to members of the Senate, Doyle stated that, "By continuing tough municipal levy limits, property taxes on the typical home are held in check." He then went on to raise the levy limit to 3.86 percent as opposed to the 2 percent Legislature had passed. This could result in taxpayers having to dig a little deeper to pay even more on their already high property tax bills. Doyle also eliminated the tech school levy limits altogether.

Huebsch actually stated that there would likely be no challenge to the governor's veto and that while disappointed he "understood" why he was going to increase the levy limit.

Apparently, the state also has an extra $800,000 just lying around. With his veto power, Doyle is throwing that sum of cash at a project that doesn't even fully exist yet and has caused uproar among many. It's the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail extension.

Legislature had agreed that the Department of Transportation could request the money from the Joint Committee on Finance if and only if the "Legislature has enacted, and the governor has signed, legislation establishing a financing mechanism that will finance all costs of the project." Without a funding source, Doyle used his power to fund the project even though this legislation may never even be passed.

Last but not least, there’s the UW-System that needs some focusing on. Personally, I couldn't be more ecstatic about the 6.8 percent tuition increase provided in the budget (sarcasm). Working multiple jobs to pay for tuition already, I'm sure most college students are looking forward to finding another one to add on to their already overly busy schedules.

Millions and millions of taxpayer dollars are being used for the college system in the newly passed budget, yet tuition is still going up. A whopping $21 million alone is going toward growth agenda initiatives.

A side note: Now that 13 UW-Madison alumni have donated $85 million to the business school to "add faculty, boost the school's reputation and improve teaching and research," will taxpayers or students get some of their money back? No. Although, I do wonder what alumni would have donated if the Legislature had stuck to last year's budget in order to save the system after Doyle's threat to shut it down.

Overall, the budget raises fees while wasting millions of dollars on unnecessary spending. Wisconsinites should be proud of their elected officials' (non)representation of the taxpayer.