Contact: Brian Rothgery, 414-278-4230 or brian.rothgery@
Measure also establishes moratorium on non-essential travel
MILWAUKEE – County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, Sr., will introduce a resolution during tomorrow’s Finance Committee meeting directing the Parks Department to keep the Schulz Aquatic Center open in 2018, citing level funding for aquatic facilities in the 2018 county budget, and calling for a moratorium on funding out-of-county travel for county employees.
“Like my constituents and thousands of area residents, I’m outraged that instead of cutting administrative waste, such as bloated travel budgets, the Abele Administration announced they were closing a popular local pool. It’s time to stop playing games with taxpayers and threatening important services and popular amenities. Instead, department heads need to make an honest effort to cut waste, luxuries, and duplication, as supervisors called for in the 2018 budget.
Lipscomb’s resolution identifies wasteful expenditures such as unauthorized bonuses, recently tallied at more than $250,000 for a six month period of 2017, and excessive travel budgets, which also totaled nearly $250,000 for just two departments in 2017. Savings from either of these would be sufficient to fully fund the pool for 2018.
Contrary to claims by County Executive Abele that the 2018 county budget, which asked all departments to reign in their spending by .75%, left him no choice but to close the Schultz Aquatic Center, the Comptroller’s fiscal note accompanying Lipscomb’s resolution specifies that “there are sufficient budgeted funds to maintain aquatic center operations at this time.”
Lipscomb’s resolution also requires the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Culture to “comply with the 2018 Adopted Budget requirements that all departments, prior to enacting any direct service cuts, must…reduce duplication and cost of administrative services.”
The Finance and Audit Committee will consider Chairman Lipscomb’s resolution at 9:00AM Thursday, January 25, in room 203-R.
