Supervisor Jursik Prioritizes Long-Term Planning for County Facilities in Budget

Milwaukee County Supervisor Patricia Jursik, District 8, is taking a leadership role when it comes to reducing both Milwaukee County’s real estate holdings and related costs.

Supervisor Jursik served as chair of the Long-Range Strategic Plan Steering Committee, which produced a plan to downsize Milwaukee County facilities in light of the fact that the County workforce has shrunk by nearly half during the past decade.

“The Milwaukee County Executive’s 2013 Recommended Budget failed to include any goals related to this plan for the second straight year,” said Supervisor Jursik. “Last year, I authored a budget amendment to fund a $400,000 study of our facilities so that work on this important project could begin.”

This year, Supervisor Jursik authored a budget amendment to spell out the goals for a facilities redesign and to include this project in the 2013 budget since the Executive’s proposed budget largely ignored the issue.

The comprehensive facilities plan would address several goals, including maximizing value leveraged through a sale; consolidating County holdings based on best use; evaluating the safety of a building while also minimizing costs of operation; mitigating long-standing liabilities associated with ownership of a facility; and reducing the geographic scope of real estate holdings.

“I firmly believe that this plan is the most important initiative in the County budget,” noted Supervisor Jursik.

Her amendment requires that the Facilities Assessment Team return to the Committee on Transportation, Public Works & Transit in April 2013 with either a report on the progress of strategically downsizing County holdings or a report on alternate recommendations, based on the Team’s studies.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.