Report: State budget pushes Milwaukee County deeper into fiscal hole. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 8/3/2011)
Excerpt: The new state budget has pushed Milwaukee County more than $21 million deeper into a fiscal hole, increasing the chances that massive service cuts could be needed to fill the gap, a nonpartisan local think tank says in a report being released Wednesday.
Transit, parks and social services all could be chopped, while layoffs and benefit cuts could be ahead for county workers, the Public Policy Forum report says in its preview of the challenges in crafting the 2012 county budget. For revenue, the county has one last chance to raise property taxes by $10 million, in addition to boosting fees and imposing a controversial wheel tax, the report says.
County Executive Chris Abele's top aide agreed that Abele and the County Board will face tough spending decisions, but he repeated Abele's position that tax increases are not an option in the budget the executive will propose in September.
"It is a stark landscape," said Patrick Farley, county director of administrative services. "A lot of very difficult choices have to be made."
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