The coalition includes the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, the Wisconsin Counties Association, Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin, Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin and AFSCME Councils 40 and 48.

"Shared revenue is vital to local government. It is a nearly century-old tradition that funds essential local services," said Bob Chybowski, executive director of AFSCME Council 40, which represents 32,000 county and municipal employees statewide. "It has to continue in the interest of public health and safety."

Alliance Cities Elect New Mayors

Dave Cieslewicz

Dave Cieslewicz defeated former Mayor Paul Soglin in the Madison mayoral election April 1. Cieslewicz is a former county supervisor and founder of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, which advocates for responsible land use. Soglin was mayor of Madison for 14 years in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The victory margin was 1,189 votes among more than 58,000 cast in an election that had a robust voter turnout. Cieslewicz will succeed Mayor Sue Bauman.

"The time has come for us to look beyond 'us and them.' It's time for us to work together," Cieslewicz told his election-night celebration. By the way, Cieslewicz pronounces his name Chess-LEV-itch. See the Wisconsin State Journal story here. Two incumbent mayors in Alliance cities lost their re-election bids. In Superior, David Ross, owner of Dave's Upholstery of Superior, defeated Mayor Sharon Kotter by a 59%-41% margin. Mayor Kotter was elected in a recall election in July, 2000. In Marinette, former Mayor Doug Oitzinger defeated Mayor Fred Westphal by 57 votes. Westphal, a former Marinette city clerk, had defeated Oitzinger in 2001. Madison was one of three Alliance cities where incumbents had lost primary races in February. In the general election in Racine, Gary Becker beat veteran Alderman Ron Thomas. Unofficial totals indicated that Mayor Jim Smith, a write-in candidate, finished third, with 1,859 votes. In Oak Creek, Alderman Richard Bolender defeated Mark Verhalen 2,667 to 1,744 in his bid to lead that city over the next three years. He succeeds Mayor Dale Richards, who served as mayor for 12 years but lost the primary. Mayor Jadin In Green Bay, businessman and Brown County supervisor Jim Schmitt defeated mayoral and council assistant Dave Nennig, 10,073 to 8,686. Schmitt will succeed Mayor Paul Jadin, who did not seek re-election. In December, Mayor Jadin was named president of the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. Jadin has been mayor of Green Bay since 1995, and served as president of the Alliance of Cities from 1998 to 2002. In Stevens Point, Mayor Gary Wescott handily defeated challenger Amy Heart, 3,311 to 1,711. This will be Mayor Wescott's third four-year term.

Four bus drivers, three firefighters and a neighborhood coordinator are among the positions that City Manager Don Norrell is considering eliminating in Eau Claire to help cope with an expected $2.8 million budget shortfall next year.

City officials hope the cuts can be accomplished through normal attrition. The position reductions are expected to save more than $1.3 million a year.

In Milwaukee, officials plan to put on hold $8.4 million in street and alley projects because of the uncertain situation surrounding shared revenues.

See the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram story here, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story here.

Tough Times, Tough Choices: State-Local  Relations During the Budget Crunch, is the title of a public forum the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, wispolitics.com, the Wisconsin Counties Association, the Wisconsin Towns Association and the La Follette School of Public Affairs are co-sponsoring April 9.

The forum will bring together for the first time the chairs of three efforts to improve the state-local partnership and increase governmental efficiency. They are Tim Sheehy, chair of the Task Force on State and Local Government, which issued its report earlier this year, UW Professor Don Kettl, chair of the Commission on the State-Local Partnerships for the 21st Century, and former Wisconsin State Journal publisher Jim Burgess, chair of the  Commission for the Study of Administrative Value and Efficiency (SAVE Commission).

The panelists and audience will have the opportunity to discuss whether the tough choices that state government's budget crisis imposes on the state and local level presents an opportunity for institutionalizing the types of reforms the three commissions recommended.

The forum is Wednesday, April 9, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the Concourse Hotel in Madison. That's the day of the last Joint Finance Committee budget hearing, in Madison. Legislators, staff members, local and state officials, scholars the news media and members of the public are welcome. There is no charge, but please register by April 7 by emailing webmaster@wispolitics.com. A reception will follow.

For more information, please contact Jeff Mayers at wispolitics.com.

The City of Oak Creek has reached an agreement with We Energies Corp. that accepts expansion of the utility's power plant in the city in return for tough environmental controls, brownfields cleanup and $2.5 million a year in revenue sharing for the city. See the Milwaukee Business Journal story here. The deal appeared so sweet to some officials in Racine County that they want to negotiate with We Energies for a piece of the action. See the Racine Journal-Times story here.

By a nearly 3-1 margin, citizens in Brown County support consolidation of local government functions, according to a poll reported in the Green Bay Press Gazette. Also, the county's taxpayers could save $3.3 million a year from law enforcement consolidation and pare the law enforcement payroll countywide by 35 positions, a revised study indicates. See the Press-Gazette story here.

The Wisconsin Counties Association board of directors last week voted to support Gov. Jim Doyle's proposal to help fund state shared revenues with a $500 million transfer from the state transportation fund. WCA executive director Mark O'Connell said county leaders also are open to solutions that preserve shared revenues without the use of transportation fund money. "To date, however, we have not seen any proposals that would do this," O'Connell said.

Also, Wisconsin's three AFSCME Councils, representing more than 63,000 public service workers, came out in strong support for Gov. Jim Doyle's plan to transfer $500 million from the transportation fund to prevent service cuts and local tax increases. Bob Chybowski, executive director of AFSCME Council 40, which represents 32,000 members statewide, called the transfer "a legitimate way to prevent tax increases or even more damaging cuts to essential services."

The City of Marinette has received a brownfields assessment grant of more than $25,000, to pave the way for redevelopment of some old railroad property. See the news release here.

The City of Platteville is searching for a new city manager. City Manager Eric Berlin is resigned in February to take the job of city administrator in Raymore, Mo. City Treasurer Duane Borgen is the interim city manager.