Abele Tells Greendale Chamber Members County is in Better Shape

In the midst of the recall campaigns, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele went to Opening Day at Miller Park, where he sat between Gov. Scott Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, two men Abele says he gets along with. 

Walker quipped about the shirt Abele should have worn to the game: One with arrows pointing left and right, and proclaiming "I'm with stupid."

Abele's joke warmed up the crowd at Wednesday’s Greendale Chamber of Commerce event, where he sounded confident tones about this year's county budget.

Last year’s 2011 budget started with a $55 million deficit and about $1 billion in long-term liabilities, Abele said, but things look brighter for next year.

The latest presented 2012 budget is now poised to go forward with no deficit and $1 million that will be used to pay off debt, Abele said.

Walker's budget-repair bill, also known as Act 10, gave the county some flexibility in working with the budget, but he said it was still short millions of dollars needed. The bill allowed the county to have employees on the same health care plan, rather than the 20 plans the county previously had to manage. Saving also came from county's ability to track expenses.

“One of the most important things for me to show was that this was do-able, even when you start $55 million in the hole," Abele said. "I think about every expenditure we make as though it’s all of our money because it is."

With the help of the County Board, Abele said the county has controlled the chaos of vacations and sick days. County workers will no longer be able to accumulate sick days and see huge backdrop payouts.

With a light winter, the county was able to save money on salting and road repair and saw an increase of revenue, particularly in the zoo and the parks. The zoo has had record attendance, he said.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on June 13 that the county has a large surplus of $11.5 million, which can be used to offset the 2013 budget or help pay off county debt.

“My inclination anytime I have an excess is first pay down debt," he said. "Second, restore services that have been cut before. Where we do it? There’s a bias toward a critical safety issues and anything that will increase revenue.”

Another new element in the county is the independently elected comptroller, rather than one appointed and reported to the county board.

"The comptroller now reports to taxpayers,” Abele said. “(The comptroller) can say no to me, which is a good thing, and anyone in the office. They can say no to the supervisors and they can do that independently.”