On Nov. 1, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors convened at the Washington Park Senior Center for the public hearing on the 2011 County Budget.
As in previous years, speaker after speaker urged the Board to support spending increases to the $262 million budget introduced by County Executive Scott Walker. Groups sporting t-shirts of purple, red or green expressed solidarity over their pet issues. Representatives of County unions, current and retired employees, advocates for the disabled and fans of public transit took their turn at the microphone to decry any reductions in their favored programs and to urge additional spending for others.
Two themes emerged in the course of the hearing. The first was that the solution to the wide array of county issues was more spending. For example, despite an increase of $5.5 million in the Walker budget for mental health programs, many speakers made heartfelt pleas that even greater expenditures be devoted to these programs.
The second theme entailed pointed critiques of County Executive Walker and his budget. Speakers, primarily current County employees, railed his call for additional wage and benefit adjustments. “Don’t balance the budget on our backs,” one County worker urged.
Not a single person testified from the perspective of a County taxpayer urging tax and spending restraint.
A remarkably different reflection of the will of the people was expressed just twenty-four hours after the conclusion of that hearing. On Election Day, a clear majority of Milwaukee County suburban residents voted for Scott Walker over Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the race for governor.
Scott Walker’s campaign pledges of less spending and lower taxes – so cursed by those attending the budget hearing – clearly resonated with a sizable portion of the electorate.
What are we to make of these competing and contradictory attitudes? Can it be attributed simply to a conflict between the taxpayers and the tax-takers? Those pulling the wagon vs. those riding along?
This is a tale of two different counties within Milwaukee County. One is a fantasy that higher taxes will solve our structural deficit. The other school of thought is reality: without major structural changes, our county government will soon become unsustainable. Due to shrinking revenue, the County can no longer afford the status quo.
Whatever the reason for this dichotomy, the fiscal challenges for Milwaukee County continue unabated. Regardless of the outcome of the current budget debate, the County’s fundamental and dire fiscal dilemma remains. Without fundamental reform, the county will enter 2015 with a $120.8 million structural deficit, as well as a staggering $300 million in pension and health care costs.
Unfortunately, many county elected officials seem to suffer from “Lack of Attention to the Deficit Disorder.” This malady is characterized by an over-reliance on short-term fixes and an avoidance of the specter of solvency crises.
What’s desperately needed is a frank dialogue regarding the future of Milwaukee County – the services it can afford to provide and the options for alternative means of delivering those services it may no longer be able to continue in their current form. Solutions that some may view as radical must be considered, including alternative revenue sources as well as the elimination or transfer of existing services and programs.
Such a discussion can only be productive if policy makers are willing to set aside personal political agendas and undertake a top-down examination of county operations, including the size and scope of the County Board and County Executive.
If we prove ourselves unwilling or unable to take up the gauntlet of county government reform, then surely other forces will impose those solutions upon us without any input from the residents of this County.
Milwaukee County Supervisor Joe Rice represents Whitefish Bay, Fox Point, Bayside, River Hills, Brown Deer and parts of Glendale and Milwaukee.
