Wednesday, October 28, 2009

County Board Keeps Tax Hike To Bare Minimum

The County Board's Audit and Finance Committee met well into the evening tonight, trying to figure out a way to fix Walker's broken budget. They must have done a good job, because I can guarantee no one will be happy.

From Supervisor Elizabeth Coggs, Chairwoman of the Audit and Finance Committee:
Late Wednesday, the Milwaukee County Board’s Finance & Audit Committee approved an amended 2010 County Budget which calls for a property tax levy increase of 0.43%, the lowest increase in six years. For a City of Milwaukee home assessed at $150,000 last year, the County portion of the 2010 property tax bill will be approximately $12.83 less than 2009. Without the vehicle registration fee, the property tax levy increase would have been approximately 3.85%.

Supervisors have heard loud and clear that Milwaukee County residents face a high property tax burden. In a November advisory referendum, County residents voted in favor of providing property tax relief through a small increase in the sales tax. Unfortunately, despite the wishes of voters, the Governor and State Legislature have failed to give Milwaukee County this authority. The most responsible alternative, approved by the Committee this evening, was a vehicle registration fee along with a tax levy increase that is among the lowest in our region.

“Anyone who has actually read the budget proposal knows that County Supervisors faced the daunting task of fixing a $32 million budget hole left behind by the County Executive,” said Supervisor Elizabeth M. Coggs, Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.

With the amendments approved today, the Committee laid the groundwork for meaningful, long-range structural changes in a number of areas, including wages, pensions and health care. “Responsibly, we are turning to County employees in a more reasonable manner to meet the fiscal challenges imposed by the current recession,” Supervisor Coggs added. “At the same time, we are restoring funding for key services including parks, public safety and human needs services for individuals who need the help most. They have nowhere else to turn.”

“We cannot continue to rely on the property tax. Unfortunately, we have not gotten any leadership from the County Executive, yet we balanced his broken budget with the lowest property tax increase possible,” said Supervisor Peggy West, Chair of the Health & Human Needs Committee. “Some may call this vehicle registration fee a tax. Fair enough, but understand that the County Executive’s budget proposal contained new taxes on the poor, the mentally ill, the disabled, and seniors. They are people, too, and we have done our best to minimize the impact on safety net services.”
To be honest, I would need to see the details before I get excited one way or the other about this budget. Walker has painted the County into a corner, and then, as his norm, abdicated his responsibilities so he can go campaigning.

During the course of the budget process, I've had contact with many of the Supervisors. These conversations usually have taken a positive tone, even if I did not always agree with their positions or their votes.

I appreciate the difficult position that Walker's ineptitude and negligence has put them into. And I thank them for their efforts to try to minimize the pain to everyone as much as they could.

I applaud them on the rhetoric they use, pointing out that this mess is Walker's fault. Anyone that wasn't in a coma new that there was an economic crisis going on in the country, since it was the turning point in last year's election, yet Walker and his 20 staffers chose not to do anything proactively to address the issue.

But rhetoric aside, I can't help but wonder why the County Board continues to enable Walker's bad behavior and willful negligence, when they should be actually holding him responsible for it.

7 comments:

  1. Actually, the bare minimum increase would be just above zero. Assuming a whole unit, that would be $.01 added to the tax levy.

    Just trying to help you with your math.

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  2. "Anyone that wasn't in a coma new that there was an economic crisis going on in the country, since it was the turning point in last year's election, yet Walker and his 20 staffers chose not to do anything proactively to address the issue."


    People like you claimed the administration was lying when they told you and the board about the looming deficit. Walker took action by reducing work hours to save money. You complained and sued.

    Great doubletalk.

    You're pathetic.

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  3. I do remember Capper saying that Walker was overestimating the economic climate to justify his actions. Do I need to find the posts? After all, I'm very good at finding them.

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  4. Did you read JSOnline today? Then you would know that either Walker was lying then or he is lying now or both.

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  5. Or his staff is completely incompetent. Because according to the JS, the biggest reason this deficit magically appeared is that the state signed a reductiuon in reimbursements for mental health care, and Walker's lackey in charge of that didn't account for it. Given the fact that the state budget was public record 5 months ago, it's either a stunning oversight of a key revenue source, or it's willful ignorance to create a problem that any manager with his brain working would not have allowed to happen in the first place.

    I think the County Board should call his bluff and have it all break down...or cause a major strike. Take Walker's ridiculous theories out of the theoretical, and show everyone how badly they work in the real world.

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  6. Government workers cannot legally strike. Nor do I think it would be ehtical, considering the necessity of the services we provide.

    But you are fully correct that Walker and his lackey either showed real incompetence or willfully mislead people for a long time for this political stunt.

    I wonder how fast people would complain if they couldn't use the golf courses in the spring, or take a bus anywhere.

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  7. My comment would be to all those who raise any taxes for the residents in the city of Milwaukee are just plain stupid. The people will move out of the city if taxes increase and there will be fewer and fewer people paying to support those who are retired and still receiving huge pensions. Let them take the brunt of the relief on the tax payers for once. Most of us can't even get a cost of living wage and our health insurance rates have increased so much that it's difficult to afford these services, pay taxes, mortgage, utilities, food and survive by being able to drive our vehicles to areas that don't have bus services. What are all of you thinking about except yourselves and how much you can stroke your own egos about straightening out the deficits. Who really are the ones who won't get paid if you don't increase taxes????

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