Two of the area's biggest government budgets won approval in recent days, but neither Brown County's $238 million spending plan nor Green Bay's $100.1 million budget can be reviewed by the public for several weeks.

Brown County's 2009 budget, approved 10 days ago by the County Board, won't be available for the public to see until early next year.

Lynn Vanden Langenberg, director of administration, said every page of the proposed budget's 416 pages has to be rewritten because of changes made by the board before it approved the budget with a 20-6 vote. Only then will the budget be available on the county's Web site, she said.

But the proposed 2009 budget submitted by County Executive Tom Hinz in October is on the county site.

"Everything's got to be reconciled," said Vanden Langenberg. "It does seem easy from the outside looking in, but it all has to be quality checked. Every single department's budget has to be changed and it's quite an undertaking. Every single page will change and it's a 300-400 page document.

"If anybody would like to come in and see what we're doing, they can."

County taxpayers will be asked to pay 5.09 percent more in taxes for the county portion of their property tax bill as a result of the board's vote, which raised the tax levy to $82,125,411. For the owner of a $150,000 home, that could mean about $681.66 depending on the equalized value of the resident's municipality.

Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said there is no statutory requirement that the final budget document be completed by a certain date.

Possible vetoes by county Executive Tom Hinz are delaying the completion and publication of the approved budget. He can announce any vetoes up to 24 hours before the next County Board meeting, which is set for Dec. 17. However, a special veto session can be scheduled prior to that meeting.

Hinz hasn't announced whether he will issue any vetoes.

Official minutes of the board's Nov. 10 budget meeting won't be available online until they are approved by the board at its Dec. 17 meeting, according to County Clerk Darlene Marcelle. The minutes are unofficial until approved, she said.

Green Bay's $100.1 million budget, approved Tuesday, likely will be available to the public next month, after sanitary sewer and other budgets outside the city's control are passed and their impacts can be calculated. The city plans to print extra copies and also to post the budget on its Web site at www.ci.greenbay.wi.us.

Copies of Mayor Jim Schmitt's proposed budget still are available at Green Bay City Hall. The City Council made only minor changes to that budget, which is about a 2.19 percent increase over this year.

The assessed tax rate for city purposes is 8.69, or $1,303 on a $150,000 home. That's an increase of 3.17 percent over 2008's rate.

The city is negotiating with employees in an effort to freeze their wages at current levels for next year.