Nonunion Milwaukee County workers will get reduced pensions, higher health insurance costs and no seniority raises in 2010, under action approved Thursday by the County Board.
The forced concessions passed 18-1, with Supervisor John Weishan opposed. County Executive Scott Walker favors the measure. Supervisors, Walker and other elected officials were excluded from the pension trims.
The board Thursday also narrowly upheld Walker's veto of a measure that would have laid the groundwork for establishing health benefits for domestic partners - straight or gay - of county workers.
The employee benefits concessions apply to just 717 unrepresented employees, but also are aimed at leveraging similar concessions from the roughly 4,700 county employees who are union members.
The combined savings, if applied to all county employees, was estimated at $7.5 million. The 2010 county budget assumes those savings and other givebacks for all employees, but county unions have not agreed to them.
Supervisors left intact a provision that insulates themselves and managers in the sheriff's office from pension givebacks imposed on other nonunion employees. That means other nonunion managers and employees must take a 20% pension cut and won't be able to retire until age 64, up from the current 60.
The 20% cut comes in the form of a reduction in the county's pension "multiplier," a key factor in the formula for calculating pensions. The cut applies only prospectively. Years worked before 2010 will be credited at the higher pension formula factor. Those already retired are not affected.
Elected officials not affected
Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo said he withdrew a planned amendment to make elected officials take the same pension cut as other non-represented employees because that change had not been included in a required formal cost estimate. Under county laws, any pension change also must be reviewed by three county committees, as well as win approval from the full County Board.
Sanfelippo said he will introduce a separate resolution in January to subject elected officials to the same pension cuts.
"I'm not going to give up on the idea," he said. Supervisors should take the same fiscal medicine being dished out to other county workers, he said.
The move faces an uphill battle, according to County Board Chairman Lee Holloway. He said he opposes cutting pensions of elected county officials because most don't hold office long enough to get much of a pension. Holloway also said he's against making Milwaukee County elected officials have a lower pension multiplier than other elected officials in Wisconsin.
"I would not want to set that precedent," he said.
Walker said he supported having the pension cut apply to himself and other elected officials, but he did not actively push for it. Doing so might have risked losing support for the overall concession package, Walker said. He said he would support a separate measure that cuts the pensions of himself and supervisors.
Veto upheld
The board voted 12-7 to override Walker's domestic partner veto, one short of the necessary two-thirds. Advocates of the measure said it was merely a study.
"It's not a matter of gay or lesbian rights, it's a matter of equality," said Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic. "Are we that regressive that the County Board can't even support a study?" The measure called for research into the cost of the benefit and drafting of a final plan.
Opponents said adding a benefit, whatever the cost, was unwise at a time of tight county budgets. One estimate suggested it could cost the county $4 million a year, but experience with the benefit elsewhere has suggested a much lower cost.
Supervisors voting to override Walker's veto were: Gerry Broderick, Toni Clark, Elizabeth M. Coggs, Dimitrijevic, Lee Holloway, Willie Johnson Jr., Patricia Jursik, Christopher Larson, Theo Lipscomb, Johnny Thomas, John Weishan Jr. and Peggy West.
Supervisors voting to uphold the veto were: Mark Borkowski, Paul Cesarz, Lynn De Bruin, Michael Mayo Sr., Joseph Rice, Joe Sanfelippo and Jim "Luigi" Schmitt.
Larson said he would reintroduce a similar measure next year. Under County Board rules, he must wait at least 90 days.
In other action, the board:
• Approved, on a 16-1 vote, a habitat restoration plan for the 89 acres at the County Grounds in Wauwatosa that the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is buying from the county. The plan preserves monarch butterfly habitat in areas bordering three sides of a group of historic buildings designed by architect Alexander Eschweiler. The UWM Real Estate Foundation is paying $13.55 million for the property.
• Defeated, 11-8, a move to require County Board approval of the hiring of private firms to take over custodial services at county buildings next year. Weishan said the board had a right to have a say in the hiring, but Corporation Counsel William Domina said the board's role ended with authorizing the hiring in the 2010 budget.
Holloway said he would introduce legislation next year to ensure the board passes judgment on any firms hired to take over county workers' jobs.
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