You might call Daniel Diliberti the poster child for courthouse
cronyism. Diliberti served 12 years as a Milwaukee County supervisor and voted
for the infamous 2000 pension plan that granted huge payouts to his fellow
workers while creating a crushing burden for taxpayers.
But Diliberti not only avoided getting thrown out of office, he
got a promotion, winning the 2004 election for county treasurer and nearly
doubling his pay. He now earns $83,776 for a position with few duties. Indeed,
as a board member, Diliberti joined colleagues on a resolution asking the state
legislature to abolish the positions of treasurer, county clerk and register of
deeds. Yet in past years, the board has steadily upped the pay for these
unnecessary offices: All three officers are paid $83,776.
Meanwhile, the board has dilly-dallied. It’s offered no way to
pay for the massive $400 million shortfall in the pension system, a system that
actually had a surplus before those outrageous pension sweeteners were
approved.
Back in 2002, after Milwaukee Magazine blew the lid on the pension scandal, the result
was the biggest citizen outcry in local history. Seven board members were
recalled from office, and County Executive F. Thomas Ament was forced to resign.
But today, it seems, all has been forgotten. In an August survey by the Public
Policy Forum, 52 percent said the county has good leadership and 60 percent said
it provided good or excellent services. That’s an incredibly high rating for so
hapless a government.
“County government has grown into a dysfunctional system that
wouldn’t work if Jesus was the county executive and
Moses chaired the county
board,” businessman and philanthropist Sheldon Lubar declared in an April speech
to the Rotary Club of Milwaukee.
Lubar co-chaired two task forces, one by the state and one by
the Greater Milwaukee Committee, that concluded major reform is needed.
“He’s trying to force the debate,” says philanthropist Chris
Abele, who served as co-chair of the GMC task force. “There’s not much attention
to this but for Shel saying it’s a lot of fiddling and Rome is burning.”
How bad is the fire? Besides the $400 million pension
shortfall, there’s a $1.5 billion unpaid liability for health insurance. The
county’s parks need $300 million in repairs. The county transit system will face
an annual deficit of $24 million by 2011.
Yet supervisors often seem more concerned about raising their
salaries. Considering the average county in the nation has six board members,
compared to 19 here, taxpayers are already overcharged. Considering eight of the
19 supervisors voted for the 2000 pension plan, you’d think they’d offer to
lower their salary.
The board’s lone solution to its self-made fiscal mess was an
advisory referendum to increase the sales tax, which citizens vote on in
November. But it’s unlikely to pass and even less likely to garner approval by
the state legislature. Anyway, its supporters don’t propose using the tax to pay
off the pension and health care shortfalls, so it doesn’t touch the county’s
biggest problems.
Lubar proposes radical action. For starters, he supports County
Executive Scott Walker’s proposal to privatize Mitchell International Airport,
selling leasing rights for 50 to 100 years. Chicago is doing this with Midway
and is poised to make $2.5 billion. Walker says Mitchell could bring in $800
million, but even a lower figure would be enough to pay off the pension
shortfall.
Privatization is controversial. Odds are a private company will
cut staff and trim salaries for lower-level workers. That would be unfortunate.
But I suspect the average taxpayer would say it’s better to sell the airport
than tax me more to pay off an obscene level of pension and health care
benefits.
Lubar would go much further: He boldly proposes to disband
county government. It’s a seductive idea, given the county’s dismal history, but
way too simplistic. He’s offered few details on how it might work.
But there are ways to radically cut back the county. Since it’s
essentially an administrative arm of state government, the state could take over
the courts, the county jails, and social services like food stamps and child
support enforcement. The state could collect the property taxes that now help
support these services and still save because its employees get modest benefits
compared to county workers.
The state could become the governmental partner for the county
zoo and public museum, which would be appropriate, because most of their
customers come from beyond the county.
All of this would require state legislation. While they’re at
it, legislators could pass a constitutional amendment to eliminate the county
clerk, treasurer and register of deeds, and radically cut back the county board.
Board members and others would scream bloody murder. But if business leaders,
led by Lubar, made this a priority, and they heavily lobbied the governor and
legislature, it may have a chance. That would finally add a happy ending to the
biggest political scandal in Milwaukee history.
