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Plan would cut elected officials' pensions
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Under a new measure, Milwaukee County elected officials would take a pension benefit cut equal to the trim the County Board and County Executive Scott Walker approved for other county employees in the 2010 budget.
The cut would reduce pension credit by 20% starting this year, under the proposal by County Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo. Time put in before this year would be credited at the higher rate.
The cut was implemented for other non-union county workers starting Jan. 1 as part of a package of concessions prompted by a budget shortfall. This year's budget also counts saving from the pension cut for the other 85% of county employees who are union members, but the provision must be approved in labor negotiations.
Supervisor Willie Johnson Jr. said he opposed the cut for supervisors. Johnson said supervisors haven't had a raise for eight years and other county workers have had raises adding up to more than 20% during that time.
Walker has said he favors having the cut apply to him. Under Sanfelippo's proposal, the cut would also apply to managers in the sheriff's office and four other elected county posts.
The County Board's finance committee Thursday deferred action until March to allow time for a formal calculation of the financial impact and review by the Pension Study Commission.
