Posted on Sunday, 11th October 2009 by Bruce
The next time you see a group of Milwaukee County employees protesting Scott Walker’s proposed county budget at a taxpayer rally, like the ones shown in the photo above (taken last weekend at Milwaukee’s Serb Hall) keep the following fact in mind:
According to the county’s website, the 2008 benefits cost for Milwaukee County employees was 74.35% of salary. And while county employees are decrying proposed wage cuts and cuts to services (and are willing to show up at taxpayer rallies in an attempt to make their “plight” known) the cost of their benefits is projected to have increased another 8-10% in 2009, according to budget analysts.
In real dollars, this means that a typical county employee - say, for example, county social worker, union organizer, prolific semi-professional blogger, and Chairman of the recently-formed “non-partisan social welfare organization” Milwaukee County First, Chris Liebenthal - making $48,816.00 annually, according to a publicly accessible online database, courtesy of the Journal/Sentinel - actually cost county taxpayers an additional $36,295 in 2008 non-salary compensation. If 2009 projections are accurate, this cost becomes in excess of $40,000.00.
To put this in further perspective, a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report suggests that the average benefits cost for private sector employers, effective June 2009, was 29.3% of monetary compensation.
A recent study of the county’s finances by the non-partisan Public Policy Forum concludes that, for county spending, “the day of reckoning has arrived.” The harsh reality for those outside the fishbowl of entrenched county bureaucracy is that they’ve got a benefits package that most in the private sector could only dream of; not to mention, most of them earn a pretty good paycheck, to boot.
Milwaukee county spends nearly three times the national private sector average on employee benefits. By contributing an increased share of the cost of their benefits in these times of “shared sacrifice,” county workers have an opportunity to offer county taxpayers some minor relief.
Posted in Home | Comments (11) |
11 Responses to “Milwaukee County workers “feeling the hurt” of Walker’s proposed budget”
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October 11th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
A responsible budget would be anyone who can, get the hell out of milwaukee county.
I’m in the process of getting my mother out of that shithole.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Their benefits package is 74.35% of salary… That is ridiculous! No, it’s insane, almost criminal!
October 11th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Wisconsin has to do like Tennessee and start to outlaw government unions. It won’t happen though, they’re too entrenched in this state. They run this toilet.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
People have been, and will continue to vote with their feet.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Simply astonishing!
Huh…is that “Capper” in your example? Wow…is he overpaid. And HE’S asking for a reasonable budget???
Walker’s proposal is very reasonable. The Milwaukee County Supervisors should negotiate a contract that achieves the savings outlined in his budget.
October 12th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Capper is looking for a salary where he doesn’t have to work, lives as well as Obama, and can pay picketers sub-minimum wages to do his dirty work.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Do we really need a county government. I say get rid of it and taxpayers would save tens of millions of dollars. Every town, village, and city in Milwaukee county has its’ own government to represent itself.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
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