Mayor's charitable fund to cover Waukesha budget cut

Nov. 29, 2011

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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

Nov. 29, 2011 0

Waukesha - A $5,000 hole in the next city budget - money targeted to partially repair a canopy at the Farmers Market along the Fox River downtown and deleted by the Common Council last week - might be more easily remedied than the rest of the budget.

When the council meets at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to decide whether to override Mayor Jeff Scrima's veto of the 2012 budget, aldermen can focus on everything but the $5,000 cut they made earlier.

The larger question is whether aldermen are willing to impose 11 furlough days on city workers, excluding police and firefighters, or find other ways to achieve a no-increase tax levy, as Scrima called for. The mayor vetoed a budget, passed on a 9-6 vote - one short of the number that will be needed for a veto override - that would have increased the tax levy 1.4%, about $27 for the owner of a median-valued $188,300 home.

Scrima, scheduled to give an update on the Farmers Market shelter before the budget discussion starts, said Tuesday that his charitable New Day in Waukesha fund would cover the cost. The mayor established the fund to fulfill a campaign pledge that he would give back half his mayor's salary.

"The New Day steering committee members and I have decided the restoration of the Farmers Market structure qualified for what the fund was set up for. That would be a project worthy of our support, so we are going to take care of it," he said.

Initially, $30,000 was included to repair the former transit center. Public Works Director Fred Abadi said it was becoming unsafe, with the roof falling apart and lights coming loose and falling to the pavement below. The Finance Committee trimmed the figure to $5,000 to pay for removing the unsafe parts and fixtures.

Scrima said, "Right now we're prepared to do what's necessary to get it back in good working order. Specifically, that will involve repairing the roof and replacing some of the wood that's been damaged and repainting the entire structure."

About Laurel Walker

Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus. She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon. She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.