Board reverses budget cuts
County spending plan would raise taxes 3.7%, restore funds for parks, transit
By STEVE SCHULTZE
sschultze@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Nov. 5, 2007
The Milwaukee County Board on Monday restored proposed cuts to parks staffing, public transit funding and drug treatment spending by decisive margins, adopting a $1.34 billion budget that would raise property taxes by 3.7% next year.
The budget would restore some $9 million in items cut by County Executive Scott Walker, who has proposed six consecutive budgets that sought to hold the property tax levy to the previous year’s level. Supervisors said the increases they inserted are needed to maintain the social safety net and protect vulnerable citizens.
The vote on the overall budget was 14-5, with Supervisors Mark Borkowski, Paul Cesarz, Dan Devine, Joseph Rice and Jim “Luigi” Schmitt voting against it. That margin is veto-proof – assuming at least 13 of those who backed the budget stand by their votes in a veto showdown.
Schmitt said he was voting the wishes of residents of his Wauwatosa district who “feel they are taxed enough.”
Despite the solid majority in favor of the added spending, Walker threatened to veto the board’s entire increase.
Walker promised to veto the budget down to a 0% increase, saying he may find some creative ways to do so.
Walker urged taxpayers to call their county supervisors to support paring back the board’s levy increase.
He said he was heartened by the public opposition to Milwaukee Public Schools’ proposed double-digit levy increase last week.
The board is to take up Walker’s vetoes Nov. 14.
Next year’s county property tax levy would rise to $250 million with the County Board’s $9 million boost over Walker’s budget plan. The proposed $3.88 per $1,000 tax rate would mean a $6.19 property tax increase next year for the owner of a Milwaukee home valued at $150,000, if the board’s action stands.
“We’ve got a guy upstairs who thinks zero, zero, zero – no matter what,” Supervisor Roger Quindel said of Walker, whose courthouse office is one floor up from supervisors. Walker forced the County Board to repair overly harsh and unrealistic trims, Quindel said.
County Board Chairman Lee Holloway called the budget “about the best we could do right now,” given Walker’s cuts and other constraints.
Supervisor pay rate increase included
The budget includes a 4% pay raise for county supervisors that would take effect after the April election, raising supervisor pay to $52,080 next year and $52,704 in 2009. The increase passed 12-7 – one vote shy of a veto-proof majority.
Walker hinted he will veto the pay raise, calling its inclusion in the budget an unprecedented and unwise move. Holloway, who sponsored the amendment for the pay increase, said it was deserved and would be the first in more than seven years.
If no raise is approved by Dec. 1, supervisors’ pay would remain frozen at $50,679 through 2012.
Points of disagreement
In contrast to some recent budgets, the full board essentially rubber-stamped the changes made by the board’s finance committee over the past month and softened many of Walker’s cuts.
His plan to cut 81 park worker positions was shelved, as was his corresponding idea of hiring more summer seasonal help to plug the gap. That was one of the costliest increases made by the board at $1.9 million. The board went along with Walker’s plan to hire 12 new park bicycle patrols – part-time summer help to monitor the busiest parks.
The board reversed more than $3 million in cuts to transit, including shortening of several bus routes and eliminating a proposed 75-cents-a-ride increase in Transit Plus rides for people with disabilities. That would keep the paratransit fare at $3.25 a ride. The board ratified Walker’s 25-cents increase in bus fares, raising them to $2 a ride – one of the highest fares in the country. Adult and student weekly bus passes won’t rise, however.
An additional $3.2 million in state transit aid approved by the Legislature after Walker submitted his budget should be used to avoid cuts or fare increases proposed by Walker, supervisors said.
The board agreed on restoring $600,000 to partially make up for the loss of federal money for drug treatment programs; another $302,000 for drug and alcohol abuse prevention programs; and $280,000 to keep the 211 hotline, which provides social program referrals.
The board let stand Walker’s plan to increase spending on mental health by some $2.7 million, including $1 million to help private developers build more housing and $1.3 million for extra staff at the Mental Health Complex in Wauwatosa. Those moves were spurred by Journal Sentinel articles disclosing squalid living conditions for people with mental illness and the deaths of several people in the county’s care.
About $850,000 was restored by the board for court operations, and a new $1 million “inclusive housing fund” was approved with the money coming from proceeds of anticipated county land sales. The fund would help subsidize affordable housing.
The budget also includes a 75-cent increase in admission to the county zoo and a $1 increase in zoo parking.
The board also restored funding for University of Wisconsin Extension programs and the farm and fish hatchery at the House of Correction.
Supervisors warned that the budget still may be on shaky footing, in part because of its reliance on saving some $10 million next year on the county’s pension payment through refinancing its pension debt. The Legislature has not given the county the authority to issue 30-year pension bonds.