April 5, 2002 e-newsletter
In this issue:
| McCallum and the Media | |
| What We've Lobbied | |
Budget endgame begins
By Rich Eggleston
All the pieces finally are in position, and the state budget endgame begins.
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To recap the play thus far as it pertains to local government, the Assembly spared shared revenue from cuts during the current fiscal year, but cut the shared revenue program $250 million in 2003. The Senate spared the program both years. |
Here’s what we know about Assembly and Senate majority party priorities:
Also, please alert your personnel directors to the fact that the Senate budget includes the provisions of Senate Bill 185, under which police and fire disciplinary cases could be appealed to arbitration before going to circuit court. To obtain the text, click on the bill number.
The budget conference committee that will play out the endgame is expected to take next week off, ands meet the following week.
For more: (Feel free to crib from the following in your communications with legislators or the media. Hey, if Stephen Ambrose can do it...)
Dé Jà Vu All Over Again
It was June 22, 1989, and the headline in the old Milwaukee Journal read, "'Big spender' label irritates city officials in West Allis."
The headline in that day's Milwaukee Sentinel said, "McCallum says West Allis can't count on state."
"The state has been willing to provide help, but local officials must tighten their spending habits," then-Lt. Gov. Scott McCallum had told the West Allis Chamber of Commerce. He criticized property tax increases caused by lost local tax base and state-imposed property tax exemptions.
Then-Mayor Fred Cashmore faulted McCallum for providing misleading information by comparing West Allis to villages and towns. "The lieutenant governor owes the chamber an apology," Cashmore said.
"McCallum stood firm" in 1989, the Journal reported.
The media aren't being kind to McCallum today either.
"It would have been laughable if it weren't so pathetic," reporter Joe Buttweiller wrote in the Racine Journal Times after McCallum had an exchange with public employees outside the Racine Marriott.
For a good read, check out Buttweiller's story here.
Ten Alliance Cities Get Brownfields Grants
Ten Alliance members have received more than a half million dollars in Brownfield Site Assessment Grants, the DNR announced March 26. They were among 37 grants to local governments totaling $1.7 million that will begin the process of cleaning up 57 contaminated properties.
For more information on the grants, look here.
Gov's. Madison-Janesville Trip Cost Us $2,600
| Gov. Scott McCallum billed taxpayers
$2,600 for an airplane flight to Janesville so he could save 20
minutes of driving time, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported March 22. Later, the governor's office said the flight really cost only $406. By comparison, a Madison to Janesville ticket on a Van Galder bus costs $5. This is the governor who called local officials "big spenders." For the Journal Sentinel story, click here. |
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Alliance Board elections coming up
Alliance President Paul Jadin is prohibited by our bylaws from seekiing re-election. Other board members whose terms are expiring in September: vice president Jane Wood of Beloit; secretary-treasurer Joe Laux of Menasha and Mayors Jim Schramm of Sheboygan and Michael Miller of West Bend.
These slots will be filled by mail ballot. Nominations are due by May 1. All who are interested, indicate whether you are interested in the presidency, vice-presidency, secretary-treasurership or one of the regular board slots, and send your name to City Manager Jane Wood at woodj@ci.beloit.wi.us
The successful candidates will be announced at the Alliance's June 13 meeting in Madison.
