Walker is Right
Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker reported that the county could face a funding gap of $89 million next year, growing to as much as $298 million in 2011.
Walker is not responsible for creating the financial nightmare in Milwaukee County government, but he has demonstrated real leadership in his effort to address it. Throughout his tenure, Walker has tried to make civic, community and elected leaders understand just how dire the situation was.
Yet County Board members and union officials rejected proposal after proposal to significantly reduce the cost of county government to offset the increasing costs of the obscene pension giveaway that sent former County Executive Tom Ament and other board members packing.
The most Walker has been able to do is to stave off tax increases, and while that is no small feat, it is also no longer enough.
Milwaukee County has no choice but to restructure and make deep and dramatic cuts. Of course there are those who still believe a tax increase is the only solution. Scott Walker is not one of them, and he is standing firm in his opposition to new proposals to raise the county sales tax by anywhere from a .25% to 1%.
Walker understands that an increase in taxes will drive more businesses and families out of the only county in the state to lose both over the last decade. County Supervisor Gerry Broderick, author of a plan to increase Milwaukee’s sales tax by 0.50%, says local taxes "are the dues we pay for the quality of life we enjoy."
Broderick is dead wrong. Taxes are the price Milwaukee County residents are paying to sustain a Rolls Royce pension deal and free lifetime health benefits for county employees. And every time Milwaukee County loses jobs and population, the rest of the state pays to make up the difference in state aid.
Thanks to Scott Walker for standing up and telling the truth. Maybe next year we’ll have a new Governor who will offer him a helping hand rather than making small-minded remarks about the county’s problems and suggesting that Walker’s honesty is inappropriate.
“The county is going to have to take care of the county's problems," Doyle said, noting the fiscal impact of the self- inflicted changes in county benefits. "I can't imagine the damage to Milwaukee County by Walker saying they are on the brink of insolvency."
Walker’s reply was restrained.
“After the pension scandal, "What more damage can be done to Milwaukee County's reputation?" Walker asked.
Perhaps Governor Doyle thinks it would be better to lie about Milwaukee County’s fiscal outlook the same way Doyle lies about eliminating the state’s budget deficit which currently sits at $2.1 billion.
4 Comments:
All Walker is done is demonstrate the basic and complete failure in his leadership. This happened on his watch. One can point at the County Board - but that misses the point. Leadership requries an ability to work with others to get things done; and Walker completely failed. Milwaukee's fiscal woes fall at his feet.
But, the fact of the matter is that Walker ran the County based on one principle - de-construct County government as an ideological advertisement for the Guv campaign. He wanted to buy votes by slashing revenue and - lo and behold - can't pay for government.
The current problems are simply the final verdict on Walker's utter failure as a leader.
The chicken has come home to roost…
Walker was a stunt loving, press release maniac while in the State Assembly with a decisively anti-Milwaukee outlook. Perhaps he thought it was kind of cute when he voted to cut $702,715 from the amount of state shared revenues that were earmarked for Milwaukee and sent it to Lafayette county. He stridently supported “truth in sentencing” legislation but opposed requiring a cost estimate prior to enactment. A real fiscal wizard, eh?
The Walker love-fest is coming to a grinding halt. The good people of Milwaukee county are growing very weary of the “it’s not my fault”. They want to know how the Wizard’s gonna fill or eliminate the freakin’hole!
Scotty ought to charter a jet, I’m sure Midwest Airlines would love to comp him as a way of apologizing for trying to steal his airport, and head for one of the stops on The Fiscal Wake-Up Tour sponsored by the Concord Coalition.
http://www.concordcoalition.org/events/fiscal-wake-up/index.html
He’s got a lot to learn in a very short time.
When is Walker going to be responsible for the county? He's only won election twice, but he and his mindless advocates like to play the game of none of this is his fault. Its "the buck stops anywhere but here" game. This is the reason he didn't catch on for governor and this is the reason he will go down as a miserable failure as county exec.
Really? Scott Walker is the best one to run against Doyle? Wow. This should be a fun election.
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