Tuesday, July 1, 2025
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Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Milwaukee Press Club 'Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism' 2020 & 2021 Award Winners

How Waukesha County Really Runs Behind the Scenes

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This is an opinion piece

By Waukesha County Supervisor Robert Kolb

As you know or may not know Waukesha County is going to meet its goal to balance the budget next year, but it is costing the county more essential employees which is not saving anything.

That will require a reduction in sheriff’s deputies & public works employees. Since 2010, Paul Farrow and Dan Vrakas before that has been demanding significantly more lean budgets from every department for 15 years in a row by millions and 85 FTE’s. That is why your county tax levy has stayed virtually the same for the past nine years.

We demand fiscal responsibility of our elected officials of which Waukesha County has been and will continue to demonstrate. For comparison, Arrowhead High School is asking for $260 million to tear down two completely functional buildings to build one large one with a building full of luxury items. That is NOT fiscal responsibility.

As a supervisor during our budget meetings, we are having to cut positions to try to balance our budget. I am very worried that we have come to the point of diminishing returns where cutting is costing us more than helping us. There have been many meetings with different elements of our county to come up with solutions including local business leaders and the Waukesha Business Alliance.

According to Dan O’Donnell, we have a balanced budget this year. He is not wrong, but he doesn’t realize all of the county departments did more cuts to meet that goal. Those cuts as said before are going to cost the county more than it saves. We’re never able to fund the cost to continue.

One thing I want to bring to everyone’s attention is that county government is not the same as state or municipal government. When I first got elected to the board representing Oconomowoc (I now represent Genesee, Vernon & Town of Waukesha), I quickly learned that county government’s hands are tied to make any major changes to our structure & programs that we’re elected to oversee.

Most of what the county is responsible for is to administer the funds & programs mandated by the state. We get funds to run a specific program in Public works or HHS or Judicial which includes the Sheriff.

If we need more judges, the state won’t give them to us. We have to make do or dip into the levy to bring in more judges. If we do that, then we have to keep paying for those judges. As everyone can see with their own eyes, crime is absolutely not going down, thanks for the most part to Milwaukee County for NOT incarcerating career criminals. 40% of our criminal cases are people from Milwaukee County, and 50% of our jail inmates are not from Waukesha County.

Every year, we are sent a portion of the state budget to do our job. That is what’s called shared revenue. That money does not come out of your property taxes. Sometimes the state will demand unfunded programs or mandates which means they pay for the initial setup & then our county has to come up with the money whether we agree with it or not.

The shared revenue formula has been extremely biased towards big liberal cities for decades. If you remember, Paul Farrow was extremely angry and frustrated that the new formula to divide the money for cities, counties, villages, and towns was still lopsided to say the least.

Waukesha County residents pay about $1.5 billion (1500 million) in sales and income tax to the state. We only get back approximately $60 million. $47 million will be going to the state funding shortfall of that $60 million. We also get grants from other state and federal agencies. For example, money from FEMA went down significantly this year. (Are you surprised?)

When I first got on the board, my first committee was on Public Works. They basically take care of the roads and fleet. We come up with a list of roads and capital improvements that need to be done. We never put projects in the plan that didn’t need to be done. What I found disturbing and aggravating to say the least is many of the projects can’t get done unless we beg the state and federal governments for money for each individual project. (This is what happens when the state and federal government steals so much of your & my money that we’re forced to beg for it back). Every single time, we’re forced to ask for funds to fix a road. We are forced to follow their rules or we don’t get the “grant.”

If you want to see an example of complete failure – your federal government taking our money & then giving it back with strings attached. Every road that we build that uses federal funds has a very expensive bike path put in the roadway. Those bike paths usually end abruptly and go nowhere. If you take a ride to the 200 block of Arcadian Avenue in Waukesha, you will see the absolute idiocy of what the feds demand. There is literally a bike path down the middle of the road. An entire lane of traffic was taken away on Wisconsin Avenue for the bike path which causes a traffic jam most of the day. I travel through the city very often. I almost never see a bike utilize these paths. We also have to spend millions more for different agencies to approve each project.

One part of the budget is the Sheriff’s department. Their funding comes mainly from the property tax levy, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on the issue or situation. The county sheriff has more independence from the county because it’s an independent entity, with the sheriff being an elected office. There are advantages & disadvantages to that. The advantage is we can’t dictate how they run their department to a degree. That’s beneficial because the government can’t use the sheriff as a tool of intimidation. The negative aspect is it’s much harder to demand fiscal responsibility.

Paul Farrow has demanded every department to develop a budget smaller than the previous budget. Every department head comes up with a successful plan that cuts unnecessary expenses and streamlines the department. The county sheriff always comes up short and begs for money every budget cycle. The same thing happens in fire departments all across the county. They can never come up with smaller budgets. They always have brand new shiny fire trucks they can run through parades & brand new state-of-the-art fire stations paying full-time firemen to sit around twiddling their thumbs in most of our communities. Don’t get me started on the library system that barely gets used for the cost. The Bridges library system is a huge drain on the smaller communities.

My biggest problem is the multitude of programs in HHS. Instead of making people independent, they encourage generational dependency. I was in an HHS meeting in my second term. This program administrator was proud of a child of a lifelong recipient coming in for help as well. Don’t get me wrong, some county programs are beneficial for the money spent. Our county is often used as a template for other counties to create a program that has been proven to work. I think our county has significantly been cutting edge in dealing with our drug problems in the county. I wish we could eliminate money-wasting programs like Section 8 & put that money toward helping instead of encouraging dependency.

I am not saying we are perfect, but you do have to admit that our county executive, along with the county board, has striven successfully to keep your tax levy lower for a long time.

As you know, inflation is absolutely killing us. We got little in shared revenue, and the cost of maintaining our roads and keeping the county going has skyrocketed. In addition to inflation, we have significantly higher costs every year to our court system and sheriff’s department because of Milwaukee County crime. Milwaukee refuses to incarcerate its criminals. We are forced to arrest these criminals when they commit crimes in this county. Then we have to run them through our court system, and then we have to put them in our jail. That cost is skyrocketing.

You all know about the Christmas parade massacre. That trial in itself took a big chunk out of our budget that year. I wish we could send a bill to Milwaukee county for every single criminal who should have been in prison long ago. We are behind the eight ball with jail space.

I will personally push for a new jail in addition to what the county has now. We need that jail like yesterday. The safety of Waukesha County residents is the absolutely most important aspect of living here. The sheriff is already putting ankle monitors on Huber people because the Sheriff was forced to combine the jail and Huber due to limited funds to hire additional law enforcement employees.

All of us from Paul Farrow to everyone on the county board are just as upset about the current budget situation. We’re not like our current state governor, hoarding over $3 billion federal dollars from federal Covid funds. We don’t have a secret stash. We actually run as close to zero as possible.

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2026 GOP Candidate Josh Schoemann Challenges Evers’ Budget Approach

(The Center Square) – Josh Schoemann, the only Republican currently in the race for governor next year, is criticizing Gov. Tony Evers’ approach to the next state budget by comparing it to his plans in Washington County.

“In Washington County our budget cycle starts right now, and it’s not due until November. We will propose our budget goals to the County Board in the next couple of months. We will share ‘This is what we’re thinking.’ It gives them months of time to think those through, give us feedback, and [have] that kind of dialogue,” Schoemann explained in an interview on News Talk 1130 WISN.

Schoemann said that is far better than the approach Evers is taking again this year.

“That’s not how government is supposed to work,” Schoemann said. “It’s not the vision of the governor. It’s not the vision of any one person.”

Evers and the Republican legislative leaders who will write the budget have been involved in on-again, off-again budget talks this month. On Thursday, the governor’s office said those talks were off once again because of gridlock in the Senate.

“Ultimately, the Senate needs to decide whether they were elected to govern and get things done or not,” Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a post on X.

Schoemann’s criticism of Evers is nothing new. He has long been a critic of the governor and has turned that criticism up since launching his campaign for governor.

But the recent criticism was also aimed at other Republicans who may jump into the 20206 governor’s race later this year.

“Nobody else in this race on the Republican side, being rumored to this point, has the executive leadership of skills and history to be able to show ‘This is how I’ve done it before, and here’s how we’ll do it Madison,’” Schoemann said. “The results in Washington County speak for themselves.”

Northwoods Congressman Tom Tiffany is also rumored to be looking to get into the Republican race. Before he went to Congress, Tiffany was a Republican lawmaker in Madison.

Businessman and veteran Bill Berrien is also on the short list of likely GOP candidates for 2026.

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Wisconsin Budget Negotiations Reach Impasse Between Evers, Legislature

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin budget negotiations have reached an impasse with both sides pointing fingers at the other in Wednesday afternoon statements.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said Republican Legislative leaders backed out of negotiations after he agreed to “an income tax cut targeting Wisconsin’s middle-class and working families and eliminating income taxes for certain retirees.” He said Republican leaders would not agree to “meaningful increased investments in child care, K-12 schools, and the University of Wisconsin System.”

Republican Assembly leaders said the two sides were "far apart. Senate leaders say Evers’ desires “extend beyond what taxpayers can afford.”

“The Joint Committee on Finance will continue using our long-established practices of crafting a state budget that contains meaningful tax relief and responsible spending levels with the goal of finishing on time,” said a statement from Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Assembly Finance Co-Chairman Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam.

Evers said that there were meetings between the sides every day this week before the impasse.

“I told Republicans I’d support their half of the deal and their top tax priorities – even though they’re very similar to bills I previously vetoed – because I believe that’s how compromise is supposed to work, and I was ready to make that concession in order to get important things done for Wisconsin’s kids,” Evers said.

Senate Republican leadership said that good faith negotiations have occurred since April on a budget compromise.

“Both sides of these negotiations worked to find compromise and do what is best for the state of Wisconsin,” said a statement from Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and Senate Joint Finance Co-Chairman Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green.

In early May, the Joint Committee on Finance took 612 items out of Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal, including Medicaid expansion in the state, department creations and tax exemptions.

Born previously estimated that Evers’ budget proposal would lead to $3 billion in tax increases over the two-year span.

Wisconsin Policy Forum estimated that the proposal would spend down more than $4 billion of the state’s expected $4.3 billion surplus if it is enacted.

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DOJ Begins California Title IX Investigation Over ‘Trans’ Boys Dominating Girls’ Sports

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced it is investigating California for violating Title IX by allowing males to participate in female student sports.

“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for Civil Rights. “It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies.”

In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning males from participating in female student sports, and he has threatened to block California's federal funding for continuing to defy his order. With California facing deficits in the tens of billions of dollars each year, it's unclear how the state would offset any losses or pauses in federal funding.

Notably, California Gov. Gavin Newsom hosted conservative pundit Charlie Kirk on his podcast and told Kirk that he thinks it’s “deeply unfair” that boys are participating in girls’ sports.

When asked later at a press conference what this means for state policy, Newsom demurred, painting the matter as a marginal, non-issue not worth his time.

“You're talking about a very small number of people, a very small number of athletes, and my responsibility is to address the pressing issues of our time,” said Newsom.

The California Interscholastic Federation, which governs student sports in California, has since responded to Trump’s threat by announcing a new pilot program to allow girls who otherwise would have qualified for sports finals had the finalist spots in girls’ sports not been taken by transgender-identifying boys to participate in said finals.

Title IX was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1972 to ensure that schools could not discriminate against female students. It requires they be provided with equal opportunities to engage in athletics, extracurriculars and education.

DOJ’s letter of interest says it is investigating whether California’s Assembly Bill 1266, which requires transgender-identifying students to be allowed to participate in sports consistent with their gender identities, violates Title IX.

“As a result of CIF’s policy, California’s top-ranked girls’ triple jumper, and second-ranked girls’ long-jumper, is a boy,” wrote the DOJ. “As recently as May 17, this male athlete was allowed to take winning titles that rightfully belong to female athletes in both events.”

“This male athlete will now be allowed to compete against those female athletes again for a state title in long, triple, and high jump,” continued the DOJ. “Other high school female athletes have alleged that they were likewise robbed of podium positions and spots on their teams after they were forced to compete against males.”

Should the DOJ find California is in violation of Title IX, it says it will “take appropriate action to eliminate that discrimination, including seeking injunctive relief.”

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