The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors is the

legislative branch A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

of the government of

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, containing about 1 ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Supervisors are elected to the board in

nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...

elections. There are 18 supervisors. The county board has several committees and votes on issues involving the county, such as the budget.

Board members

History

Prestige

As of 1960, membership on the Board was considered more desirable than membership in the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

, and incumbent legislators would often seek a position on the Board, resigning their legislative positions if they were victorious. By the early 21st century, this was no longer the case, and it was instead common for county supervisors to run for the legislature, even though Milwaukee County supervisors were paid fractionally more than the average salary for state legislators. Incumbent supervisors Elizabeth M. Coggs and

Chris Larson Christopher J. Larson (born November 12, 1980) is an American Democratic politician and a member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing southeast Milwaukee County since 2011. He was Senate minority leader from 2013 through 2014, and currently ...

were elected to the legislature, for example in 2010. An exception to this pattern was the case of Democratic State Representative David Cullen, who ran for and won a seat on the Board in early 2012, after a Republican legislature drastically redistricted his Assembly seat, where he had served for over two decades.

Pension controversy

Amidst a period of economic growth, in 1999, Milwaukee County was experiencing a problem with

employee retention Employee retention is the ability of an organization to retain its employees and ensure sustainability. Employee retention can be represented by a simple statistic (for example, a retention rate of 80% usually indicates that an organization kept 8 ...

. Balancing local taxpayer pressures to not raise property taxes with the need to retain trained employees led the County's Human Resources Administrators to look at the County Pension fund which, invested in a successful stock market, had flourished. County administrators, after consulting with the actuarial firm
Mercer
and Associates, recommended that the County Board's Pension Study Committee pass approval of a controversial "backdrop benefit" employee pension plan designed for employee retention. Once passed, the plan could be advanced to the full County Board. In 2000, the head of the County's Human Resources department testified that, according to the Milwaukee's only daily newspaper, the "backdrop benefit cost estimate was done. County pension consultants from Mercer Inc. do not speak up, though say later they knew the remark was inaccurate." Administrators explained that the proposal was "revenue neutral" and that proceeds from investments would cover any expenses that could occur. After advancing to the full County Board, it was passed. In 2002, a conservative based group with ties to the Republican party and aided by conservative talk radio show hosts on radio station WTMJ, launched a recall campaign against the Democratic County Executive which they claimed he masterminded for personal benefit despite the fact that he publicly signed a waiver of all backdrop benefits. Their claims were supported by a then little known State Representative, Scott Walker, who blamed the County Executive for the mess. After sufficient petitions were certified to force a recall, the County Executive chose to step down rather than face an election. In that same year, seven county board members who voted for the pension deal were recalled from office. Pro-recall activists, having earned the right to special election to fill the vacated seat, supported Scott Walker as County Executive. In 2009, a civil lawsuit was filed by Milwaukee County against ''Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Inc.'', a global financial-advice firm. In an out of court settlement, the County received $45 million from Merce. Supervisors who had retained their seats despite recall attempts declared vindication.

2013 restructuring

The same group that advocated for the recalls, called for reforms to the current county board and in May 2013, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a bill that would mandate a referendum that cut the supervisors salaries, ended health insurance and pension benefits, reduced the board's operating budget, and reduced the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors terms of office from four-years to two-years.State senate passes Milwaukee County Board reform bill
/ref> 2022 Re-Establishment of the Youth Commission In 2022, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted to establish the Milwaukee County Youth Commision. The Milwaukee County Youth Commission was created to ensure that young people have a meaningful role in shaping the future of their communities. By giving youth a formal seat at the table in local government, the commission empowers the next generation of leaders to speak up on issues that directly impact their lives. It serves as a bridge between Milwaukee County officials and the diverse youth population they serve.

References

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External links

County Board of Supervisors members
County government in Wisconsin Board of Supervisors County governing bodies in the United States