Mayor Weighs in on Budget Repair Bill

If Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill passes as expected, Greenfield Mayor Michael Neitzke believes changes should be made to it so all public employees are affected and not just a select few.

That’s the message Neitzke delivered at the Common Council meeting Wednesday evening at City Hall.

“It’s a question of fairness,” Neitzke said. “There is disappointment that over 50 percent of the employee costs that may be levied or deducted or changed, that are in our budget, don’t apply to roughly two-thirds of our employees, police and firefighters.

“It’s not that I … don’t think they do a good job. It’s not that I don’t think they deserve whatever they deserve … but it is my vote that if the pain is going to be felt by public employees, it is felt uniformly by public employees. I don’t think it’s right to single out any one group.”

Under the proposed state legislation, collective bargaining for public employee unions would be limited to wages, which would be limited to inflation unless a bigger increase was approved in referendum, according to a news release from Walker.

The union contracts would be limited to a year, the news release states, and wages frozen until new contract is settled.

Law enforcement, fire department personnel and state troopers and inspectors are not affected by the proposed legislation, according to the news release.

Other issues that are in the bill include requiring state employees to contribute 5.8 percent toward their pension and 12 percent toward their health care benefits, according to Walker’s release. That move would save the state $30 million as it looks to plug a $137 million budget deficit by the end of June, according to the news release.

“We all understand how difficult it’s going to be going into 2012,” Neitzke said. “We do things pretty darn well around here. We do things pretty darn cheap around here. … But it’s going to get extremely challenging next year. We all know that.

“I want to personally thank all our employees. Where there used to be many, there are now few doing the work of many, in all departments. But my fear is it’s going to get worse before it gets better. And we’re all working real hard to fit those square pegs into round holes.”

Waukesha Patch editor Sarah Millard contributed to this story.