Republicans moved to push the plans through the committee Tuesday night over the loud objections of Democrats, who asked for more time to review the sweeping proposals, crafted largely in secret.

Shortly after 9 p.m., Republican leaders agreed to put off voting on the package until today.

The centerpiece was a plan to limit local governments from raising taxes over the next three years beyond what they collect today. The only exception would be to accommodate growth or development that expands a municipality's tax base.

Local governments could exceed the cap only if voters approve the increase by referendum. Towns under 2,000 could go over the cap if residents approve the move in an annual town meeting.

"Most mayors say they have no intention of raising property taxes," said Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo. "We're going to help them keep that promise."

Republicans also offered to steer $135 million more in general aid to public schools than Doyle proposed. But that was accompanied by tighter limits on school spending, a cut to the popular 4-year-old kindergarten program and a proposed shift away from funding the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE), which promotes smaller class sizes.

Combined, those changes will actually reduce money for schools by $323 million over two years, according to a Doyle administration analysis of the plans. That includes an estimated $9.4 million hit to the Madison School District.

"The Republicans have launched an assault on public education, proposing a budget that will do real harm to our schools," Doyle said in a statement.

Kaufert shrugged off the administration's analysis.

"If those numbers are accurate, I'd say that's less money the taxpayers are going to have to pay," Kaufert said.

Opponents complained the proposed freeze and changes to shared revenue, the state's main form of aid to counties and municipalities, usurps the role of mayors and other local officials.

"I thought these were the guys who support local control," Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said of the Republicans.

And while the GOP plan also contains a three-year freeze on state spending, Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist said legislators left themselves a number of outs.

"The freeze they claim they have on state government isn't a hard freeze; it's a Swiss cheese freeze, and there are loopholes in there big enough to drive a cement truck through," Norquist said.

Democrats also assailed the Republicans' plan to change the way the state distributes shared revenue.

Overall, state funding for the billion-dollar-a-year program would drop next year under the Republican plan, state fiscal analysts said. But the Republicans are still committing $20 million more than the $931 million Doyle proposed.

The Republican plan then rewards efficiency by giving more money to municipalities that spend close to the state average for such services. As a result, cities that provide more services and deal with urban problems would lose more revenue under the plan, said Rich Eggleston, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities.

"Throwing money at the police department isn't the way to take care of a community. You also have to have the services that help prevent crime," Eggleston said.

The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated the plan would give Madison about $330,000 less than the $16.1 million in shared revenue it receives currently. Under Doyle's budget, the city could have taken a $3.5 million hit.

But Cieslewicz said the Republican plan, combined with the property tax freeze, will end up costing the city $8 million.

The Republican leaders said they won't insert legalized tavern gambling into the budget. But they did shift the responsibility for enforcing a ban on gambling in taverns from local and state law enforcement officials to the state Department of Revenue.

Critics said the move would make it easier for taverns to illegally operate five or fewer video gambling machines in violation of the law. Many tavern owners now operate a handful of machines because the law is rarely enforced and they can't lose their liquor license if they're caught.

The budget plan still needs approval by the full Senate and Assembly, although leaders said they expect quick passage. Doyle also can veto the budget or strike out parts of it before signing it - something he signaled he may do while in La Crosse on Tuesday night.

"I think that's just a political gimmick," Doyle said of the freeze plan. "They've been in power for 16 years, and they didn't do it then."

Joe Quick, a spokesman for the Madison School District, said the Republicans were wrong to suggest they were helping education with more state dollars.

"If you're saying you care about kids and you cut 4-year-old kindergarten, I don't know how you reconcile that," Quick said.

Ken Cole, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, said the GOP proposals increase state aid for special education, one of the fastest-growing areas of school spending.

But he said proposed reductions to the kindergarten and SAGE programs could hurt two of the programs that help reduce the need for special education.

State Journal reporter Tom Sheehan and Linda McAlpine of the La Crosse Tribune contributed to this report.