Milwaukee County Board Approves Budget That Calls for 2.3% Tax Hike

The Milwaukee County Board Monday approved a 2012 $1.3 billion budget that includes a property tax levy of $275.8 million — a 2.3 percent increase over this year.

The levy passed on a 12-7 vote, with supervisors Eyon Biddle, Sr., Gerry Broderick, Marina Dimitrijevic, Lynne De Bruin, Jason Haas, Nikiya Q. Harris, Willie Johnson, Jr., Theodore Lipscomb, Peggy Romo West, Johnny L. Thomas, John F. Weishan, Jr. and Chairman Lee Holloway voting in favor of it.

Supervisors Mark Borkowski, Paul Cesarz, Patricia Jursik, Michael Mayo, Sr., Joseph Rice, Joe Sanfelippo and Jim “Luigi” Schmitt voted against the measure.

County Executive Chris Abele had proposed a zero levy increase in his budget; but the board increased the levy by $6.25 million over 2011. Under this scenario, the owner of a home with an assessed value of $150,000 will see an increase of almost $15 on the county portion of the property tax bill.

Abele said he would veto any budget that increased the levy over the 2011 level. He has until Monday to present any vetoes to the board. The board needs 13 votes to override any of Abele’s objections.

Abele said he was pleased the board didn’t go higher than the 2.3 percent increase, but he is still not convinced that public safety would be sacrificed with less spending.

County Board Chairman Lee Holloway said Abele had put the board in a familiar position with his levy freeze proposal.

“Supervisors were forced to do all the heavy lifting,” Holloway said. “In the end, we took a balanced approach in doing what’s best for Milwaukee County and its taxpayers.”

Doing what’s best for the county included training and personnel budget. Abele had zeroed out the entire $3 million for 2012. This move will give the county’s municipalities one year to prepare for the loss of funds and to foster cooperative efforts between fire departments and communities.

The board also restored 25 sheriff deputies and two deputy sergeants for the Sheriff's Department's Tactical Enforcement Unit. Abele had cut funding for 131 deputy positions and proposed replacing many of those with hourly officers for parks, booking services and other law enforcement duties.

Instead, the board opted to increase the levy by $1.55 million to cover the cost of the 27 restored positions.

There were a number of amendments to fund additional deputies or reduce paratransit fare increases by suspending or delaying the extension of health care benefits to domestic or unmarried partners of county employees. Those attempts brought calls of discrimination against homosexuals and intolerance towards those who don’t follow the social norms of marriage. All were soundly defeated.

Other amendments to restore more deputy positions or funding failed, after DeBruin announced the Milwaukee County Deputy Sheriff’s Association had agreed to benefit concessions and retirement changes that could restore more employees. However, no one could adequately explain what the contract changes are and supervisors seemed to be making decisions more on hope, than facts.

The board did restore private provider health services to Sheriff Department inmates at the cost of $1.32 million. However, the provision included a directive to begin shifting inmate care to county doctors and nurses in the Health and Human Services Department in July 2012.

The board also increased one-way fares for paratransit bus service — from $3.25 to $4. This is 50 cents less than Abele had proposed and by lowering the increase, the board tacked $458,800 onto the levy.

In the most under-discussed issue of the day, the board altered Abele’s employee benefit plan with reductions to proposed employee health care contribution, co-payments and out-of-pocket limits. The changes still represent contributions of 25 percent to benefits by county employees.

While Abele continues the previous executive’s push for privatization, the board decided to rehire county employees to provide security at public facilities. The move increases the levy by $418,000, with the remainder of the cost covered from the canceled private contract.

The board sent Abele a few messages by firing an IT director and reversing the executive’s attempt to create a county Department of Transportation.

The IT position was budgeted in the Business Development Department, but according to Holloway, the person was actually working in Abele’s office. He added that the position should be included in Abele’s budget if they’re working for him.

“He is openly using this position illegally,” Holloway said.

Weishan said Abele’s plan to restructure all transit, transport and public works departments into a county DOT was not well thought out or vetted properly by the County Board. He said the proposal may be valid, but needs to be discussed thoroughly by all sides and departments.

The board also told Abele and the state legislature that if they want an elected comptroller in the county, they should pay for it. Abele has expressed support for an elected comptroller as a check on the County Board’s auditor and finance personnel. So the board took $150,000 out of Abele’s office budget and placed it in a contingency fund to establish an office for this newly created elected officer.

Other measures approved by the board on Monday include:

• Eliminating Abele’s proposed $1 million debt-service fund and move $450,000 to a long-term facilities study and $550,000 to the county contingency fund.
• Establishing a trust fund for rent payments from local television stations with towers in Lincoln Park. The money will be used to improve the Estabrook Dam on the Milwaukee River.
• Adding $625,000 for a new employee wellness program that includes incentives for participation and penalties for bad health habits.
• Authorizing $2 million in bonds to replace HVAC systems at the Martin Luther King Jr. and Kosciuszko community centers.
• Adding $500,000 to the Parks Department for increased seasonal worker hours.
• Freezing the parks budget for the next four fiscal years, protecting the department from future cuts.