The Bill Passes … What’s Next?

Update: Then there are these dire predictions from Supervisor Pat Jursik around transit cuts and other impacts of reduced state aid, cuts not necessarily lessened much by the budget repair bill.

Not surprisingly, the Assembly passed the collective bargaining bill on essentially partisan lines this afternoon, with South Milwaukee Rep. Mark Honadel voting in favor.

Now, what’s next for South Milwaukee?

In many ways, the answer to that question remains to be seen, and it won’t be known for some weeks and months.

Here is one thing I do know: Taking away collective bargaining rights from public employees will likely do little to lessen the immediate pain of the coming reduction in state shared revenue called for in Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget. Even the financial pieces of the bill — like increased benefits contributions for public employees — will not help too much too soon.

This is in part because South Milwaukee has a contract already in place with AFSCME into 2012, one where we already have asked our employees to pay more for their health insurance. The exemption of police and fire employees from the collective bargaining mandates further limits their local impact. (We have similar contracts in place with those employees anyway).

Additionally, other considerations in the proposed budget bill — such as property tax levy limits, the removal of state funding for local recycling programs and reductions in local road funding — also promise to make the “tools” meant to help local governments balance their budgets less effective in communities like South Milwaukee, at least in the short term.

For school districts, it is much the same. The South Milwaukee School District, faced with revenue caps and reductions in state aid of its own, must still come up with more than $1 million in potential cuts even after passage of the collective bargaining legislation.

Will there be long-term savings because of this legislation? Probably, especially as employee costs make up the bulk of our city budget.

But until then, and even after, this is going to be a tough road, no matter where you stand on the issue. I promise to keep you posted as the landscape becomes clearer and we begin this important, albeit difficult, debate at City Hall.