1410 WIZM

At the end of the fiscal year in Monroe County, taxpayers will see $2 million thrown back into the genral fund. All due in part to County Administrator, Cathy Schmitt. And that's just the beginning. Since Schmitt took the position a year and a half ago.....Monroe County has implemented a new finance department.......cost controls in other departments and a conservative 2011 budget. So why would she want a job in Adams County?

Family. And though the position there would have gotten her closer to them, Schmitt says she just felt it was right to stay in Monroe County.

 

And though her family is scattered throughout the state, Schmitt notified Monroe County earlier this week that she is staying put. Schmitt says she will continue to perform her job in the capacity for which she was hired.

It's a matter of working together. That's what Lacrosse County Administrator Steve O' Malley says is the main reason the county board approved a union wage and benefits agreement this week.

The contract is for a one year wage freeze, no increase in health and dental insurance for the county or employees, and all remaining conditions to stay the same through the end of 2011. Also, union and non-union employees agreed to take voluntary unpaid time off, which he says will save the county about $270 thousand. O’Malley says the county has been working with union leaders to come to a wage and benefits agreement for about five months. He says that this is the first time the unions and county agreed to a one-year contract. Usually it’s for two years

O’Malley says the county won’t be able to determine what else needs to be worked out with the unions until Governor Walker unveils his budget.

Many local leaders don't support Scott Walker. Mayors, school board members, county board supervisors, and even town clerks from all over the state have signed a letter condemning proposed changes to collective bargaining in governor Walker's budget repair bill.   La Crosse mayor Matt Harter says he's more inclined to see how the whole budget repair bill turns out before passing judgment.  Harter says he'd like to see some agreement on the legislation but, he says, "we gotta change something."

Medicaid programs in Wisconsin face huge potential changes if governor Walker's proposed budget repair bill gets signed into law. The extent of those changes are hard to gauge accurately right now, says Bob Jacobson from the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, but over a million people could be affected by changes to Badger Care and similar programs.  And unilateral changes made under the bill and not approved by the feds would likely result in tens of thousands adults and children losing their state health coverage altogether. 

 

Jacobson's group believes some of the changes that Walker wants to work in the state's Medicaid system are, at the least, a blatant power grab by the governor. At the most, a violation of the state's constitution.