Sunday, July 29, 2007

Long Term Impact of Bad Decisions

Wow, we’ve had a fantastic weekend swimming, boating, fishing, eating, and generally having a great time outdoors.  It kind of stinks to come back to this:

Hundreds of Milwaukee County workers have pumped up their pensions by a total of at least $50 million through an obscure program that skirted county laws and federal tax rules, a Journal Sentinel investigation found.

Workers ranging from gardeners and grass-cutters to county government’s highest-ranking officials have tacked on extra years of service by taking advantage of uncommonly generous “buyback” practices that convert ineligible service into pension-worthy time.

By purchasing credit, in most cases for seasonal or part-time county stints worked in their youth, employees are getting five- or six-figure pension gains over a retirement lifetime. They can retire earlier with full benefits, and some qualify for free lifetime health insurance because of their buybacks.

The Journal Sentinel spent six months analyzing the costs and hired two financial experts to assist in the calculations. The analysis focused on 357 participants, all of whom benefited from buyback breaks approved before 2007.

Spurred by the Journal Sentinel’s investigation, the county conducted its own review and found that nearly 175 of the transactions should not have been allowed. The county has reported itself to the Internal Revenue Service - 12 years after pension officials ignored advice to do so.

First off, kudos to the investigative work of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Second, this is a good reminder how, in general, bad decisions by government can cost the taxpayers a fortune for years into the future, and, specifically, how Milwaukee County continues to be strapped because of decisions made years ago to shake down the taxpayers to feather the nests of a bunch of bureaucrats. 

OK, that’s all I have.  I had too nice a weekend to worry about this until tomorrow.

(12) Comments
Posted by Owen at 2242 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. But Owen, why you care about what happens in Milwaukee County.  After all, you live in Washington County and it doesn’t effect you.  Based on other posters on this blog, you shouldn’t post on anything that has to do with Milwaukee and the County.  Everything is just fine in Milwaukee County, unless it is Walkers and Clarke’s fault, as they would say.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 29, 2007 at 2327 hrs


  2. Dan,

    As long as Milwaukee County is getting massive amounts of “shared revenue” from the rest of the state and demanding more and more “shared revenue”, Owen has every right to care about what those hacks are doing to enrich themselves at the taxpayers’ teat.

    Posted by steveegg on July 30, 2007 at 0642 hrs


  3. This is not a new story.  It was reported on several occasions of Sue Baldwins manipulations in order to get extra credit for her pension.  James Koconis, a supervisor now dead, had two laws passed that gave him extra pension time, one was credit for military service and the other I forget.
      The county has always been the place where all good democrats go to retire,  half the time when they are actually working.  If you worked hard for the party and to elect people like Ament, O’Donnell etc. you were rewarded with a position at the end of your time, with the county, that would greatly improve your pension payout.
      Look at Dick Bussler and Tony Czaja and many others.  The state people do the same thing.
      As Friedman said; “it’s ridiculous, but the governemnt does ridiculous things all of the time.”
      Before this no one could do any more than wirte a letter to the editor that would probably not be published.  the localnewspapers are totallu worhtless and the Journal is less than worthless as it writes stories that are actually not true like the one about the soicilist health care plan of the dems.  This story should have been writtn when they first started doing it, it wasn’t a secret but the dimwitted editor they had at the time pulled the roprters out of the county building and let the crooks have free hand.
      The best reporter in the state, Bruce Murphy, though a liberal, said that the Journal had little or no interest in investigative reporting.  That’s why the place is falling apart along with Milwaukee county.  Thankfully the blogs are watching now and having some effect.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2007 at 0956 hrs


  4. So I’m wondering why in the last 6 years hasn’t the reformer done anything to fix this loophole?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2007 at 1156 hrs


  5. Dohnal, my first reaction on reading this story yesterday was that I was grateful for newspapers and investigative reporting.  I think it’ll be a while before a Wisconsin blog goes as far as the Journal did in this case, hiring two sets of professionals to analyze and double-check their conclusions about the effect of these retirement policies.  On the other hand, anyone can do a lot with a self-made pulpit, a little digging, and a few well-placed open records requests.

    Posted by John Foust on July 30, 2007 at 1157 hrs


  6. Dan, tell us—do you see a difference in the following?

    A.  Somebody from County A says that officials in County B acted illegally in increasing pensions to workers in County B, and that somebody in County A says that was wrong.

    B.  Somebody from County A says that citizens in County B should not get to exercise their legal right to vote (and perhaps vote down) a sales tax only on their own county B, a tax that someone in County A doesn’t ever have to pay if he never comes to County B, which he says he wouldn’t do, anyway.

    (We won’t even get into whether that sales tax could reduce the shared revenue returns to that county, which that somebody says is his reason for concern about a county not his own.  And we won’t even get into that shared revenue is returning less to that county not his own than it pays to create that revenue to share.)

    Awaiting your answer, Dan.  It will tell us how well you really understand the principles of conservatism—and democracy.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2007 at 1429 hrs


  7. Y’know Kay,
    In the prior post you refer to, Owen never advocates that a vote should not be allowed.  He merely agrees with an elected official who is doing his legal job.  Owen’s post did list where the money was going and half was going to “tax relief”, but none to reduced shared revenue so I guess you were right ‘not to go into it’. 

    Scott Walker in this instance seems to be doing his job.  If you and others are so concerned about the parks, generate a revenue source for the parks (and stop stealing from it to pay for other things).  1/6 of the moneys projected would go the parks.  Why should Walker okay a 1 cent tax when a 1/6 of a 1 cent would do.  Every intelligent person (admittedly not necessarily the majority in SE Wisconsin) has to know you do not lower taxes by levying taxes.  What Government is really doing here is offering to not increase property taxes if we submit to an increased sales tax.  Walker is right to veto it.

    And the whole county A, B thing…can you say inarticulate?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2007 at 1557 hrs


  8. Geez, lighten up- I was just being sacastic about other people on different posts that said Owen shouldn’t be allowed to comment on what goes on in Milwaukee County because he doesn’t live there.  I guess my sarcasm was a little bit too realistic?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2007 at 1747 hrs


  9. You just forgot the </sarcasm> tag, Dan.

    Posted by steveegg on July 30, 2007 at 1854 hrs


  10. Walker is doing his job refusing to allow a referendum?  Uhhh, no. 
    And if you can’t follow as far as from A to B, I’m not going through it again.  But still waiting to hear from Owen as to when he’s going to call for shutting down referenda in any of the 71 other counties.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2007 at 2354 hrs


  11. Dan, I recognized that it was sarcasm—it was just lousy sarcasm.  It only works if you actually have two reasonable comparates. . . .

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 30, 2007 at 2355 hrs


  12. “Walker is doing his job refusing to allow a referendum?  Uhhh,”...yeah.  If HALF of any tax increase is for “tax relief” it is not RELIEF and it is not responsible.

    And dan, it was funny and since person K referred to the same past post in comment 6 paragraph B, either it must be a good ‘comparate’ or person K has periods in and out of lucidity.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 31, 2007 at 1346 hrs


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