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Budget bill is 'strong medicine,' but is it the cure?

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Trust me, I would much rather write a column about the pleasant spring weather than about what has been happening in Madison during the past few weeks. Very few people that I have spoken to are “on the fence” with regard to Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to greatly limit public-sector bargaining rights and require many employees to contribute to their retirement. Not writing about this doesn’t seem sincere, however, given the importance of the proposal to Wisconsin government. My only disclaimer is that I am writing this column on the evening of Feb. 27. Given how quickly this story has been changing, it may be out of date by the time it ends up in print.

• Does the bill impact Walworth County? Given the short amount of time that the bill has been in the public domain, I have noticed a fair amount of confusion regarding its terms. I am by no means an expert regarding the proposed law; however, as far as I can tell, the bill will have a significant impact on county workers and our budget. Portions of the bill will apply to all of our employees, with the exception of sheriff’s deputies who are represented by a union. Employees represented by the Walworth County Deputy Sheriff’s Association include sworn deputies, sergeants and detectives. Corrections officers are sworn deputies in some counties, but not here, so they are included in the governor’s proposed changes.

Assuming the bill passes, non-represented employees will begin to pay toward their retirement in the next couple of months. Labor contracts with six of our unions will be in effect until the end of this year. Prior to the expiration of those labor agreements, we will begin to negotiate successor contracts. Wages will presumably be the only issue on the table with respect to the five (non-law enforcement) contracts. We are currently in negotiations with our seventh union, which represents teachers.

• Is this really a radical solution? By any stretch of the imagination, the proposal is strong medicine. Two aspects of the bill that attract the most attention, payment toward retirement and health insurance, are actually the more mild features in my mind. The bill requires employees (with the exception of represented deputies) to pay half of their Wisconsin Retirement System contribution. Walworth County employees are not members of the state health plan, which is the only plan directly affected by the bill. Our own employees currently pay between 7 percent and 12 percent of the premium of our self-funded health plan. The bill prohibits negotiation, with public-sector unions, of any issues other than pay. Raises must be limited to increases in the consumer price index unless a larger raise is approved by referendum.

• Is this bill “overkill?” How you answer that question depends upon your point of view as well as what budget cuts are in store for local government. It’s safe to say that the proposal has not been well-received by many public employees statewide. While a number of unions at the state level have conceded the issues of retirement and health insurance contributions, they argue that the bill goes too far. Annual votes must be taken in order for the union to continue to represent workers. Municipalities will no longer collect dues on behalf of unions. Payment of dues by members will become optional as well.

Much of the debate over the reform has taken place in a relative vacuum. Remember that a major reason for the repair bill is to give local governments the tools to deal with significant cuts that will be in store in the next biennium. I can’t help wondering, as an armchair quarterback, whether it would have made sense for Walker to release the budget repair bill at the same time that he rolled out the biennial budget. It’s one thing to say that the state faces a $3.6 billion deficit, but another thing to actually eliminate a deficit of that size. I have no doubt that the governor will balance the budget, as he must, and that the cuts necessary to do so will be like nothing most Wisconsinites have ever seen. I’ll reserve my answer as to whether the repair bill is overkill or, sit down for this one, not bold enough, until I see the size of the budget hole out of which we will be asked to climb.

One group I do disagree with is those who take glee in the fact that public employees are getting their due. I didn’t feel that way when General Motors Corp. shuttered its Janesville plant or when Harley-Davidson workers accepted concessions, and I don’t feel that way now. We have many dedicated employees in Walworth County.

Some of the upheaval we are about to experience could have been mitigated if state leaders had implemented more gradual and far-sighted reforms during the past decade. They did not. As unprecedented as the governor’s budget-repair bill may be, Wisconsin’s fiscal predicament is, likewise, unprecedented. This is what it’s like to run out of money. As a state and nation faced with tremendous debts, taxpayers will need to decide which public services are truly important. Leaders at all levels of government are going to have to figure out how to provide those services with far fewer dollars.

Dave Bretl is the Walworth County administrator. Contact him at (262) 741-4357 or visit www.co.walworth.wi.us. This column first appeared in the March 6, 2011 edition of Walworth County Sunday.