More Good News Out of Milwaukee County

By Zach W On June 5, 2008 · 8 Comments · In News

When are these folks going to get it right?

Understaffing in Milwaukee County’s procurement office has left it vulnerable to inside rip-offs, a new audit report says.

Budget cuts shrank the staff by more than 50% between 2003 and 2007, leading to shoddy recordkeeping, poor training and corner-cutting, the report from County Auditor Jerome Heer states.

Most notably, a policy change in 2003 allowed buyers to make purchases of any amount without any management oversight, the report says.

“We were just lucky somebody didn’t exploit the vulnerability,” Heer said Wednesday. The office oversees about $50 million in county purchases annually.

So I can’t help but wonder, does dumb luck count as a management style? After all, it’s thanks to dumb luck that the county has avoided being ripped off due to staffing cuts, poor training, and corner-cutting. I’m also left to wonder if this is really the kind of County government Scott Walker is proud to manage. I know he’s pushed hard to decrease the size of county government, but at what cost? Some cuts just shouldn’t be made, and cutting the ability of the county government to provide oversight and prevent wasteful or inappropriate spending shouldn’t be something we strive for.

Perhaps if Scott Walker spent more time managing Milwaukee County and less time getting his gubernatorial campaign up and running, this kind of problem wouldn’t be happening.

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8 Responses to More Good News Out of Milwaukee County

capper says:

June 5, 2008 at 10:51 pm

You don’t know the half of it, my friend.
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Zachary says:

June 5, 2008 at 10:59 pm

You’re probably right, but I’m hoping to slowly learn the half of it.
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capper says:

June 5, 2008 at 11:20 pm

Heh. Email me, please.
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Roland Melnick says:

June 6, 2008 at 9:31 pm

Blaming him for stuff that has happened isn’t enough, eh? Now we have to invent stuff?
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Zachary says:

June 6, 2008 at 9:50 pm

Roland, Scott Walker’s the County Executive, and as such, he should bear the ultimate responsibility for what happens within the government he was elected to manage.
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Roland Melnick says:

June 6, 2008 at 10:30 pm

And apparently, as such, he should bear the ultimate responsibility for what might happen as well, which absolves everyone else in county government from any responsibility?
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Zachary says:

June 6, 2008 at 10:45 pm

Roland, the issue here is the fact that Scott Walker’s mantra throughout his tenure as County Executive has been “smaller government,” and I’m simply pointing out that smaller government is not always a good thing. In this instance I think we can both agree it’d be far better for taxpayers to have adequate staffing to provide oversight on how our tax dollars are spent.
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Roland Melnick says:

June 7, 2008 at 7:13 pm

Indeed, small government is not a good thing if what we’re left with is “shoddy recordkeeping, poor training and corner-cutting” which seem to stem from incompetence. More staff will not automatically fix things if it means bringing in more of the same.

Do you have a copy of the auditor’s report? Would be nice to read the whole thing rather than the JS / Reader’s Digest version.
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