Local officials in Waukesha County gauge state aid cuts

By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

Waukesha - New state aid projections under the proposed state budget released this week show cuts as deep as some local officials were anticipating.

The City of Waukesha expects to see its shared revenue cut in half and would lose another 15% of its general transportation aid in 2012 - both the maximum percentage loss allowed in the budget bill - according to estimates released by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau Tuesday.

The total loss for the city would be $850,259 in shared revenue and $414,292 in transportation aid, or nearly $1.3 million. Recycling grants, unless replaced by the county, would mean another $200,000 loss, said Lori Curtis Luther, city administrator.

In shared revenue cuts alone, Waukesha's loss equates to $12 per person.

"Now that we have more solid numbers, we'll begin the process of exploring our options," she said. Typically the budget process starts in July, but "we're starting now" to develop options for offsetting the revenue loss. The proposed state budget bill also requires local governments to maintain a no-increase property tax levy.

She has not yet learned how Waukesha Metro Transit's aid would be affected. However, transportation coordinator Robert Johnson said early estimates indicated a 10% cut in transit aid, but that would translate into deeper cuts locally because of its impact on the local match for federal grants.

Initial estimates of aid cuts for Waukesha County are slightly better than the worst-case scenario.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau projects Waukesha County would lose the maximum allowable half portion of its shared revenue, or a total of $424,311 in 2012. Current estimates for transportation aid show a 9% cut, or a loss of $487,708.

Director of Administration Norm Cummings said the transportation figure is not as dire as expected, and if it holds, "that would be great news."

Ellen Nowak, chief of staff to County Executive Dan Vrakas, said she expects new calculations will show closer to an 11% to 12% cut in transportation aid.

According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau's estimates, aid to counties will be cut 24% or $36.5 million in 2012. Total aid to cities, villages and towns combined would be cut 8.8%, or $59.5 million.

However, in Waukesha County, every city, every town and many villages would see their shared revenue cut in half next year. The same amount would be awarded in 2013, according to the bureau's report.

Waukesha by far suffers the biggest dollar loss. The next biggest dollar cuts are in New Berlin ($327,743, or $8.28 per person less) and Brookfield ($316,616, or $8.35 per person less), according to estimates.

Many villages in Waukesha County would also lose half their shared revenue, including Elm Grove, Hartland, Menomonee Falls, Merton, Nashotah, Pewaukee, Sussex and Wales. In terms of highest per capita cuts, Hartland would see a $16.42 per person loss while Pewaukee would see a $15.89 per person loss.

Gov. Scott Walker said local governments can recoup lost state aid under the newly imposed requirement that public employees pay pension costs - an estimated 5.8% of their pay toward the state retirement fund that most often is paid from municipal budgets.

The requirement does not apply to local police and firefighters, nor does it apply to employee unions where negotiated contracts are still in effect.

While the Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates that Waukesha would save $1,121,100 in pension costs passed on to their non-public safety employees, Luther said that all the city's 10 bargaining units are exempt through the end of 2012 under contracts approved last year. The amount immediately available, beginning with the April 8 paycheck, would come from non-union, non-public safety employees and would amount to less than $300,000, she said.

For Waukesha County, the Fiscal Bureau estimates employee benefits savings of $3,793,000 - a figure that is overestimated, Cummings said.

He put the estimate at $1.5 million to $2 million, in part because some employee pension contributions, until now paid by the county, do not come from tax levy but from enterprise fund "profits," such as at the self-supporting golf courses. In addition, the county's major union of courthouse and administrative workers has a contract in effect until the end of this year and therefore isn't affected by the new pension payroll deductions that will start with their April 20 paychecks.

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