Another update: I spoke with our city administrator about this, and the immediate impact to South Milwaukee may be minimal because we have a recycling fund balance. The bigger concern for us is the proposed loss of recycling grant funding from the state in 2012 and beyond. I will keep you posted.
Update: Milwaukee’s mayor wants a legal opinion on this.
It looks like we will feel some of the state budget pain in South Milwaukee well before 2012.
Check out this story in the Journal Sentinel about looming reductions in state recycling funding for local communities — cuts that could be felt in coming weeks, rather than in 2012 as first thought. From it:
With Walker’s budget reductions, the DNR was required to cut slightly less than $27 million from its budget. Nearly half that amount came from recycling grants, which normally go to 1,018 communities by June 1, said Mary R. Teves, DNR director of financial assistance.
After sending out the email, “my phone has been ringing off the hook,” as local officials try to confirm that their funding would be cut, and to find out by how much, Teves said.
For Milwaukee, the reduction would slice aid by $1.3 million, from $3.4 million to $2.1 million, Mayor Tom Barrett said. The city has budgeted $10 million for recycling this year, but the state aid cut would not take effect until June 1, for a reduction of some 22% for the last seven months of the year, he said.
What will the impact to South Milwaukee be, and what will our options be? I’ll keep you posted.
Keep in mind that we are expecting more than $126,000 in grant funding from the state this year for recycling, so the impacts will be real.
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