more on public employee Benefits

Published - Monday, October 01, 2007

State's benefits gap worry citizens group

By REID MAGNEY | La Crosse Tribune

Talk about taxes temporarily took a backseat to football Sunday in La Crosse.

A crowd of about 70 people watched the Green Bay Packers defeat the
Minnesota Vikings, delaying the start of the Citizens for Responsible
Government meeting for 20 minutes.

The Packers outscored the Vikings on the football field, and the crowd
later learned that Wisconsin also beats Minnesota when it comes to
public employee benefits. But not in a good way.

Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said that
government salaries aren't to blame for high taxes.

"The problem isn't salaries, it's benefits," Berry said. "The gap is
50 percent in Wisconsin. In other words, public-sector benefits are 50
percent higher than private sector benefits."

And Wisconsin is higher than most other states, Berry said, including
Minnesota, where the gap is 30 percent. Nationally, it's 35 percent.

"We are really out there, and sooner or later we've got to have a
discussion about it," Berry said.

"We are markedly higher than other states. You could squeeze about $1
billion out of school budgets in this state if our benefits were at
national averages," Berry said.

La Crosse Schools Superintendent Jerry Kember was in the audience, and
said after the meeting that he's surprised to hear Wisconsin's
benefits are so much higher. "I'm interested in looking into that
myself," he said.

Berry said he wasn't trying to be a scrooge. "People should have
retirement benefits. They should have health benefits. But they've got
to be in line with what other public units are doing."

The afternoon's other main speaker, Milwaukee County Executive Scott
Walker, talked about his experience taking over that government after
a pension benefits scandal.

Until a year ago, Milwaukee County workers got 70 cents in fringe
benefits for every $1 in salary, Walker said.

Not only did some Milwaukee County workers get huge lump-sum
retirement payments and other sweetheart deals, but workers hired
before 1994 got free health care for life, Walker said. The only way
they've been able to combat that is to require higher co-pays, he
said.

Walker said that despite those problems, he's just introduced his
sixth budget in a row with no property tax increase. Of the previous
five budgets, three were later increased by the county board, he said.

Walker was asked by an audience member how Milwaukee County compares
to La Crosse County. Walker noted that his county board has been
reduced from 25 members to 19. La Crosse has 35 members.

But Walker also said that his board members are full-timers, earning
more than state legislators. And they only meet 10 times a year.

Berry was asked how people can know if they're being overtaxed.

"It's somewhat in the eye of the beholder. If you're happy with your
services and you can afford what you're paying, perhaps you're happy,"
he said.

"Wisconsin has a tax conundrum, in that we complain about the high
taxes but then don't want to do anything about the relatively high
level of services," he said.

Berry said average people have made a difference "when they decided to
stick their neck out" and run for school board or city council. "But
it's heavy lifting, and it takes a lot of homework," he said.