With former Democratic Party chief turned consultant Mike Tate hovering in the background like a nervous hen, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele delivered a light-on-substance preview of his 2016 county budget. Instead of holding the presser at a county-owned facility, Abele chose the first floor of the Pritzlaff Building, which happens to house his business incubator.
Isn’t this mashup of personal and political and official duties the same thing Democrats complained about during the Walker era?
I thought so.
Abele once again promised to not raise any taxes next year. How he plans to fill the $4 million in state shared revenue the county is losing because of Abele’s terrible Bucks deal—as well as the $20 million hole his advisors failed to note in the county’s pension obligations—is anyone’s guess. And we’ll see if his 2.5% “raise” for county employees actually includes the 1.5% cost of living adjustment passed by the board, which Abele vetoed and now has to implement because the county’s attorney told him he has to. Along the same lines, he bragged about the $5 million investment he wants to make to the parks. If this is the same $5 million the board added to the parks—which Abele vetoed and failed to implement until the county’s attorney forced him to do so—then he’s got some serious problems with the truth.
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Abele will present his 2016 budget in all its glory to the county board tomorrow. I expect that more details will follow. I certainly hope that supervisors will be able to ask Abele questions about his plan. Whether Mike Tate will allow him is another matter.
