Bill Would Cut Milwaukee County Supervisors’ Salaries In Half

The state legislature is debating a bill that would require Milwaukee County to place a referendum on the ballot next spring asking voters to cut the salaries of county board supervisors in half.

Milwaukee County Board supervisors currently earn $50,000 a year and are considered full-time employees. If the bill passes and the referendum is approved, their salaries would drop to just over $24,000 a year – an amount equal to the per-capita income in the county.

The bill faces stiff opposition from the current county board chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic. She told a legislative committee that the bill is a power grab that sets a precedent other counties should be wary of.

“It would consolidate power into the county executives’ office. This dangerous piece of legislation is an unprecedented threat to the very idea of local control and, yes, democracy.”

But supporters of the bill, like its author, Republican state Representative Joe Sanfelippo, say that if it doesn’t pass, then what he calls the currently dysfunctional Milwaukee County Board will never reform itself.

“This has to do with decades of multiple reports identifying problems that have gone unaddressed. In the end, this is strictly about getting Milwaukee County to run like every other county board in this state.”

Sanfelippo served on the Milwaukee County Board for four years before getting elected to the state Assembly, and says he tried and failed to get the board to reform itself then.

His bill would also shift control of county departments from the board to the county executive, mirroring what he says takes place in most other counties. The bill is scheduled for a vote in the state assembly next Tuesday.