Lipscomb Resolution Keeps Schulz Aquatic Center Open
Measure also establishes moratorium on non-essential travel
MILWAUKEE – County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, Sr., will introduce a resolution during tomorrow’s Finance Committee meeting directing the Parks Department to keep the Schulz Aquatic Center open in 2018, citing level funding for aquatic facilities in the 2018 county budget, and calling for a moratorium on funding out-of-county travel for county employees.
“Like my constituents and thousands of area residents, I’m outraged that instead of cutting administrative waste, such as bloated travel budgets, the Abele Administration announced they were closing a popular local pool. It’s time to stop playing games with taxpayers and threatening important services and popular amenities. Instead, department heads need to make an honest effort to cut waste, luxuries, and duplication, as supervisors called for in the 2018 budget.
Lipscomb’s resolution identifies wasteful expenditures such as unauthorized bonuses, recently tallied at more than $250,000 for a six month period of 2017, and excessive travel budgets, which also totaled nearly $250,000 for just two departments in 2017. Savings from either of these would be sufficient to fully fund the pool for 2018.
Contrary to claims by County Executive Abele that the 2018 county budget, which asked all departments to reign in their spending by .75%, left him no choice but to close the Schultz Aquatic Center, the Comptroller’s fiscal note accompanying Lipscomb’s resolution specifies that “there are sufficient budgeted funds to maintain aquatic center operations at this time.”
Lipscomb’s resolution also requires the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Culture to “comply with the 2018 Adopted Budget requirements that all departments, prior to enacting any direct service cuts, must…reduce duplication and cost of administrative services.”
The Finance and Audit Committee will consider Chairman Lipscomb’s resolution at 9:00AM Thursday, January 25, in room 203-R.
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.
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THANK YOU for working on this..It may be a pool I never go to,,but it’s important for the community…has anyone ever realized that for some folks, it might be the only place they can get a decent shower also?