County Executive Cuts Millions from Sheriff’s Department
Sheriff David Clarke told the Finance committee that the Executive’s budget “gives me no chance to succeed in terms of balancing the budget.”
Milwaukee County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, Sr., said today that County Executive Chris Abele stealthily cut millions from the Sheriff’s Department in his 2016 Proposed Budget.
According to a report by County Comptroller Scott Manske’s office, the cut proposed by Abele, “makes it unlikely that the Sheriff’s Office will achieve a balanced budget without a significant reduction in staffing and/or expenditure reductions.”
“Before the Finance committee sworn law enforcement officials said that the cut could jeopardize public safety,” Lipscomb said. “The Sheriff’s Department will face significant challenges, and the proposed cut to the public safety budget has consequences that Milwaukee County residents would find unacceptable.”
Sheriff David Clarke told the Finance committee that the Executive’s budget “gives me no chance to succeed in terms of balancing the budget.”
“Abele is using surplus funds and budget gimmicks while cutting public safety,” Lipscomb said. “It seems incongruous that the County Executive puts taxpayers on the hook to pay for an arena, but the County cannot afford to pay for public safety.”
The County Board’s Finance, Personnel and Audit Committee will review the proposed budget over the next several weeks. A public hearing on the budget will be held at the Mitchell Park Conservatory (the Domes) on November 2. The County Board will consider passage of the budget on November 9.
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.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, Sr.
What aspect of “public safety” is the Sheriff’s department responsible for?
There are a few areas where the MCS is the primary law enforcement agency (airport, parks, transit, IIRC). But there’s not really any reason that it has to be that way. There is no unincorporated territory in Milwaukee County, so all of the county is patrolled by one or another municipal police agency. Those municipal police forces could assume responsibility for patrolling the few places that are currently patrolled by the sheriff (parks in Milwaukee patrolled by MPD, for example).
It’s probably worth asking and looking at whether the sheriff should even exist (or exist beyond court/jail security) in fully incorporated counties. (Perhaps there are other aspects of county government that should be similarly examined.)
It’s about time. Clarke has had one of the most unnecessary, inflated budgets out of any local entity for years.
Funny how cuts to the UW system are defeded with suggwestions to cut medical benifits, but cuts to the inflated (and embarassing) sheriff’s department are criticized. Your conservative agenda is showing.