These are not good days for Rich Abelson. Ever since the county pension scandal exploded in 2002, Abelson has found it extraordinarily difficult to advocate for the unionized county employees he represents as executive director of AFSCME District Council 48. “ There’s not a week I don’t think about it [the pension scandal],” he says.
The irony is that the union didn’t suggest the 25 percent hike in the county pension, nor the outrageously generous backdrop payments. The entire scheme was dreamed up by management – by members of the administration of former County Executive F. Thomas Ament, and skewed to give the big benefits to veterans hired prior to 1982. But the resulting disgust with county government has left the public with little sympathy for any of its employees.
And so Ament’s successor, Scott Walker, has slashed pay and benefits for rank-and-file workers and the County Board has approved this. Last year, workers were furloughed for four days; this year, for 22 days. Abelson says the average unionized county worker earns $17 per hour, or about $35,360 per year. The 22 days of furlough will lower the average workers’ annual salary by nearly $3,000. “It’s huge. It’s really huge,” he says.
In the public eye, these workers get mixed in with all the fat cats who got the big pension payoff. Today, just 3 percent of the workers Abelson represents were hired prior to 1982. Most of his members were hired after 1994, meaning they don’t get health insurance covered in retirement. Walker and the board have also cut back workers’ pension benefits by 20 percent. These benefits are now in line with what other government workers in Wisconsin get, but because of the pension blowback, no one cares if worker pay was slashed through furloughs.
Meanwhile, County Board members haven’t been furloughing themselves. Last year, 10 of 19 supervisors announced that they would voluntarily give back four days pay. In short, it’s mandatory for the workers and voluntary for their supervisors. And how do we know these board members ever gave back the money? Two of the supervisors who made this promise, Paul Cesarz and Joe Rice, originally won office after promising to give back most of their salary to the county, but there is no evidence they ever did so.
Moreover, no board members have volunteered to give back 22 days of pay. And last week, board members declined to cut their own pension benefits by 20 percent. That’s fine for the peon workers, but not for the county supervisors.
Walker is far more adroit in how he handles the issue. When he was elected in 2002, he promised to give back $60,000 of the $132,725 salary, and followed through on this. But once he was an entrenched incumbent, he decided he was worth much more money and announced he would give back only $10,000 of the current salary of $129,611, leaving him with a salary of $119,611. He’s now promised to cut that salary by 22 days, in line with the furlough for workers. (That comes to about $10,000, which would mean he’s giving back a total of $20,000 this year, but still earning $40,000 more than when he first won office.) He’s also said he would support a cut of 20 percent in the pension for elected officials, and scored points criticizing the board for not doing so.
Board members complain that they haven’t gotten a raise in salary since 2002, but the way they’ve handled this issue isn’t likely to make voters feel very supportive of them. It’s an ugly spectacle watching the supervisors preserve their own compensation while slashing the pay of ordinary Joes and Janes.
Can Marotta Save the Bucks?
“There’s not much more juice left in this orange.” That was former Bradley Center chairman Ulice Payne’s assessment of the basketball arena where the Milwaukee Bucks play. The Bucks want more high-priced amenities to drive revenue: more and fancier premium seats and restaurants, updated luxury suites and the like. And redoing the Bradley Center to accomplish this would cost so much, you might as well build a new arena.
Enter his successor, attorney Marc Marotta. (I guess it’s now a requirement that the Bradley chairman be an attorney and ex-Marquette basketball star. Lazar Hayward, might I suggest you consider law school?) Marotta told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Payne “was on target” about the need for a new arena, but in the meantime, he hoped to find other ways to enhance revenue.
In short, it would appear that after years of Bucks owner Herb Kohl and his supporters pushing for a tax-subsidized new arena, they have all but given up. A recent survey published in the Business Journal found that an astounding 87.2 percent of people oppose any tax money going to build a new arena. Just 10.7 percent were in favor.
Of course, a majority of people opposed a public subsidy of the Brewers new stadium. And there are far more major league baseball fans than NBA fans. Add in the fact that the Bucks’ owner is a millionaire and U.S. senator, and you can see why the idea won’t wash.
Meanwhile, the sales tax for the construction of Miller Park, it was recently announced, is likely to last until about 2018, rather than 2014. (And don’t be surprised if it goes even longer than 2018.) As long as local taxpayers are paying for baseball, they’re unlikely to approve feeding more millionaire ballplayers from the public trough.
In short, Marotta will have to be very creative in how he finds new revenue sources for the Bucks. Let’s hope he solves the problem before the next ex-MU player takes over as chairman.
The Buzz
-A Republican insider tells me the party is likely to endorse Scott Walker over Mark Neumann in the primary for governor. That strikes me as a mistake: It will just reinforce Neumann’s portrayal of himself as the outsider and Walker as the anointed insider. Those with long memories will recall this approach worked well for Lee Dreyfus after the state party endorsed Bob Kasten in 1978.
-Milwaukeeans are much less likely to use commuter rail, News Buzz reporter Matt Hrodey reveals. And an effort to create an “aerotropolis” could transform Milwaukee’s airport. You’ll find interesting stories like this Monday through Friday at News Buzz.
-And the best player, worst fans, best nickname and biggest surprises at the NCAA’s Milwaukee games? The Sports Nut knows all.
