More Shared Services

When you read today's Washington County Daily News, you'll see that the County is looking to do more partnerships with neighboring Counties.  This could be similar to the partnership we formed with Ozaukee County where we merged our Public Health Departments.  It could also be more extreme, to the level of merging county government with another county (Ozaukee makes a lot of sense here).  The goal is to maintain a fiscally sustainable financial model for County government.

For me, the only thing that is off the table is partnering with Milwaukee County.  That is a non-starter for me, and I suspect that many other Supervisors share this sentiment.  Milwaukee only looks to form partnerships for the purpose of dumping their out-of-control costs on other communities.

Our County Administrator is inviting several other Counties to open a dialogue with him on potential shared services arrangements.  The Counties he sent this invitation to include Ozaukee, Waukesha, Fond Du Lac, and Dodge. 
Since this is all in the very preliminary stages, the timetable for any changes in fluid, and it would probably be at least a few years before any changes would be implemented.

Why is our fiscal situation unsustainable?
The simple answer is tax levy limits. 

A normal organization, any organization, experiences an increase in costs of about 2% each year.  For our County, this cost takes the form of increased costs for purchasing sheriff's patrol vehicles, pay raises for employees, increases to costs in service agreements, etc..  Since our County's budget is $125 million dollar, this equated to about $2.5 million in new expenses each year.

On the revenue side, levy limits only allow us to raise the tax levy based on the net new construction in the community (excluding TIF districts).  This typically works out to about $350,000 per year.  Any other increases in tax evaluations go back to county property owners, people like you and me.

The difference between our increase in revenue (about $350,000) and our increase in expenses (about $2,500,000) is a gap of about $2 million in unfunded new expenses each year.  So far, we have utilized various cost-cutting processes to make up that gap, and we know we can keep doing that for a few years.  I was just assigned to a committee that is geared entirely towards moving organizations like the History Center, EDWC, AIS, and the visitor's bureau off of the tax levy.  In a few years, we will reach the point where there is nothing we can cut without severely impacting the core services we provide. 

What's the alternative? 
The alternative is, in my view, a bad one.

We could follow Illinois' example, fund the excess out of our reserves, and then when our reserve funds are exhausted we could borrow lots of money.  Ultimately, we would end up in the same situation Illinois is in now, broke and with bills we can't pay.  I believe in fiscal responsibility, so I could not support recklessness of this sort.

New Committee Assignment

While I was disappointed with the outcome of yesterday's meeting in relation to ordinance 13, I am excited to report that I have been assigned to a new ad-hoc committee.  The committee is the Quasi-Governmental Review Advisory Committee.  The purpose of the committee, as determined by the Executive Board, is:

The purpose of this advisory committee is to review the level of county funding for quasi-governmental entities such as: A.I.S., E.D.W.C., History Center, and Washington County Convention & Visitors Bureau. The committee’s objective is to work together with members from each entity and develop an effective financial sustainability plan that will help them become independent of property tax levy. A recommendation will be forwarded to the Executive Committee for review before sending to the full county board.

Supervisor Pay & Per Diem

You may have read in Saturday's newspaper that we are looking to trim down our pay a bit.  I had noticed that eliminating Per Diem was on the agenda for last Thursday's Executive Committee meeting.  Supervisor McCune also threw in an amendment to reduce supervisor pay by $600 per year (currently we are paid $6,600 per year).  I support both of these and commend Supervisor McCune for addressing Supervisor pay.


Per Diem pay, for our County government, is extra pay Supervisors receive if they attend more than 30 meetings in a calendar year.  In my view, if you are serving as a County Board Supervisor, and you are engaged with trying to serve the community, you shouldn't be concerned with receiving extra pay for attending a lot of meetings. 


It is conceivable that I might be eligible for per diem pay for 2017, due to my appointment to the Meeting Times Advisory Committee, along with a potential upcoming appointment to another committee.  I would turn down per diem pay if I became eligible.  I didn't run for this position with the goal of milking extra pay from the taxpayers.  Some other areas where I have exemplified the commitment to service rather than self-service include:

• I have never claimed mileage during my time as County Board Supervisor.  This includes a seminar in Green Bay where a carpooling option was available, but due to a schedule conflict I had to commute separately, consequently I did request mileage.
• I donate through direct payroll deduction 1 month of my County Board salary to the United Way, specifically targeting worthy organizations who partner with our County Government in some fashion (this is done through monthly deductions that equal 1 month of my salary.
• I will be purchasing a Parks sticker next year to support our very important park system.

For Supervisor pay, I know that City Alderman and School Board members receive significantly less than County Board Supervisors do.  It is quite probable that we are overpaid, and making a reduction of $600 per year in our pay rate is a healthy step towards changing that.  I think this is especially important when we are making tough financial decisions including the elimination of funding to worthwhile organizations like Friends of Abused Families, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, and Boys & Girls Club, and when we are asking our neighbors to buy annual park stickers to fund and support our wonderful park system,