West Allis Alderman Fights Back Against Unfunded Mandates

Good for him.

The Legislature has approved an expansion of health insurance benefits for state and local government employees without providing any money to local governments to pay for them, Ald. Michael Czaplewski says.

“You have a Cadillac plan and now make it a Mercedes plan and have the people driving a 10-year-old Chevy pay for it,” he said Tuesday.

In an effort to stop what he says is another unfunded state mandate and a burden on taxpayers, Czaplewski is presenting a resolution tonight to the Common Council.

The resolution says that if the state passes any more mandates regarding pay or benefits for government employees, that it also give local governments the power to pass on the costs to employees.

As it is now, Czaplewski said, local governments must provide the benefits mandated by the state but can’t pass along costs because they are bound by employee contracts.

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Czaplewski said he was prompted to propose the resolution after hearing news about some of the new benefits for state and local government employees that took effect Jan. 1.

Among them: dependents must be covered, up to age 27, if they are not married or employed and covered by employer health insurance; treatment of autism must be covered; hearing aids and cochlear implants must be covered at 100%, up from 80%, for deaf children.