This is good news for City of Milwaukee employees.
The City of Milwaukee’s proposed 2015 budget would give pay raises of 3.9% to 2,331 workers next year to compensate them for state-mandated pension contributions, Mayor Tom Barrett said Monday.
The pay increases would cost the city $4.8 million, according to figures released Monday. The city also will eliminate the practice of mandatory furlough days as a budget-saving measure for all non-uniformed employees, at an additional cost of $2.7 million.
Those funds come from the $8 million in savings the city gained from not paying the employee pension contribution in 2015 for the 2,331 workers, according to Budget and Management Director Mark Nicolini.
Barrett said the employees deserve the boost in pay as compensation for the pension contributions after going without wage increases in 2011 and 2012 and contributing more toward health care costs in recent years.
Gov. Scott Walker’s signature change in public employee labor law, known as Act 10, bars municipalities from paying the employee share of pension contributions. So all local government employees — except firefighters and most law enforcement officers — are required to contribute half the cost of their pensions, under the law.
While I’m glad to see Mayor Barrett attempting to rectify the financial impact Act 10 has had on public employees working for the City of Milwaukee, there are many thousands more who are still dealing with the negative financial impact Act 10 has had on them – and more importantly their families.
Hidden part of that story? 100% funded pension with good management, so they don’t need to spend taxpayer dollars this year to keep it at 100% funded.
Just like the state pension fund, when you think about it. And neither were shored up by Act 10, it just made workers pay into it more (and lose take-home pay as a result).