This year, the Milwaukee County Board has been given a budget proposal the like of which has never been seen before. It is singular in its unrealistic and unattainable expectations.
Yet, it is your task to take what is nothing more than a grandiose campaign statement from County Executive Walker and try to fashion a fiscally viable and responsible budget out of it. Trust me when I say I do not envy any of you in this daunting task.
I am very appreciative and admiring of much of what you have accomplished thus far. Restoring funding to the two community centers, the deep well pools, and not only restoring, but enhancing the two indoor pools at half the price of the county executive’s proposed water park is the kind of fiscally and socially responsible thinking that Milwaukee County needs right now. Other areas worthy of note and applause are the fight to preserve the Farm and Fish Hatchery which is so vital for our needy; the fight to preserve the lakefront’s pristine nature and prevent the placement of parking meters; and the preservation of many jobs, recognizing the truth that privatization rarely saves the tax payers money, but actually costs much more in the long run.
But I am also very concerned, and even a little fearful. I am concerned that the proposed budget which was dumped on you is so unrealistic, that there is going to be an inevitable crisis when expected revenue streams do not appear (i.e. the sale of the County Grounds) and/or hoped for savings do not manifest themselves (i.e. the stalled labor agreements).
As many of you are aware, Milwaukee County First has been hard at work to try to help make your daunting task easier. We have collected hundreds of signatures on a petition calling on Governor Jim Doyle and the State Legislature to allow the full 1% sales tax as a dedicated funding source for transit, the parks and EMS, as the voters approved a year ago. We will continue to collect signatures and join our voices with other community-orientated groups until this necessary funding is a reality. We also have come up with possible solutions for savings and new revenue sources which we would be happy to share with you.
As I stated earlier, I am not envious of your position. But as you consider each of the amendments, I would ask you to remember some things.
You are not the Bradley Foundation Board. You are not the Citizens for Responsible Government Board. Nor are you the Americans for Prosperity Board or the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Editorial Board. You are not Scott Walker’s Gubernatorial Campaign Board.
Likewise, you are not the AFSCME Board, the Hunger Task Force Board, the Independence First Board, or even the Milwaukee County First Board.
You are the Milwaukee County Board.
That means your duty is to the people of Milwaukee County. It is your duty to preserve the necessary services for our most vulnerable citizens, provide for the public safety, and to make Milwaukee County the most attractive place for people to do business, to work, to visit, to live in, and to play in. It is your responsibility to do all of these things in the most fiscally responsible way possible.
I recognize that you will have to make some very unpleasant and difficult decisions in the days and weeks ahead. For the sake of Milwaukee County and all of its citizens, please put them first in your decision making.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Chris Liebenthal
Chair, Milwaukee County First
I am impressed that you almost seem to acknowledge that the County cannot afford to continue everything it does at the cost it pays, that priorities need to be chosen among services and, perhaps most stunningly of all, that the County’s overriding, #1 priority is not union jobs and benefits. I’d call it progress if I actually believed it.