Mayor Neitzke Cautiously Optimistic Following Governor's Address

Just hours after Gov. Scott Walker made his biennial budget proposal public, Greenfield Mayor Michael Neitzke appeared cautiously optimistic that cuts in state aid for municipalities he's been anticipating for months may not be as deep as originally thought.

"It’s clear, the cuts, as far as I understand them so far, are not catastrophic," Neitzke said after Tuesday's Common Council meeting. "But it’s also not clear that services within the community that are already strained won’t be strained further. It may not be as bad as we feared, but it may not be as good as it could be."

During his mayoral report, Neitzke addressed a few details of the budget that had come out. According to Neitzke, the city would lose 10 percent, or $170,000 of the $1.7 million it receives in transportation aids and a recycling grant of $200,000.

Neitzke said that cuts in shared revenue, which currently accounts for $1.1 million of the $3.5 million the city gets in state aid, are supposed to be balanced out by employee contributions to health insurance and pensions, according to Walker. But Neitzke added he had not yet seen any specific formulas that will be used to provide that balance.

"The devil is in the detail," Neitzke added. "When funding formulas come out, we’ll scour them with fine-toothed combs to see the actual impact it has on us. … This is the most trying time that I’ve ever experienced trying to basically fit square pegs into round holes.

"I was impressed with his speech. It was a fantastic speech. I’m hoping that the details are as fantastic for the residents of the community we all have an obligation are protected and served. We’ll take the governor at his word, that he understand the importance of local government and the services they provide."