It includes some real doozies, like cutting more services for the elderly and the disabled:
Some $2.3 million in cuts in services to elderly and disabled people and others were proposed, including major trims in independent living supports, adult day care and job help. Support for emergency shelters would end, saving $460,000. County aid for children and adults who attend Wil-O-Way summer camp would be cut in half. Support for the 211 social services hotline would be reduced almost by half, to $192,000.It also includes closing all the deep well swimming pools. Now one may wonder, "So what?" But think about it. A lot of people use those pools, especially when it gets extremely hot out. When they can't get in, violence can erupt.
And forget using Lake Michigan to cool off. If you drive, you'll have to feed the parking meters he wants to put up. Walker also wants to slash the transit system even more, so that you won't be able to take the bus there either. (Add to the slashing of more routes, he also wants to add a 25 cent charge for a bus transfer. What a racket...make it so people have to transfer, then charge them extra for it.)
Walker also wants to do his annual proposal to privatize the parks and other county positions, even though privatization has never saved any money.
Add to all this a new version of a death tax with higher fees for death certificates, as well as many other fees.
Even as draconian and poorly thought out Walker's budget is, he is claiming it is still over $40 million too much, and he will probably only add to the misery.
To add insult to injury, Walker also throws his own staff under the bus (if there is still one running), and blaming them for following his directives:
He noted that the measures were put forward by the bureaucrats, not him. Nonetheless, he imposed tough budget guidelines for his department heads that left little room for cheer.But this is the norm for Walker and the budget process. He makes absurd demands, presents a lousy budget, and leaves it to the County Board to fix all of his mistakes.
It is also worth noting that he still hasn't done the any of the things that would help save tax payer dollars, like sitting down with the unions and do some good faith bargaining regarding the new contracts.
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Let's not forget that once the deep well pools are closed, they will be cost prohibative to reopen. This where our children learn to swim so they can get into anything other than the splash pad areas of places like Cool Waters and the new multimillion dollar Dave Schultz aquatic center! Ever seen a kid learn to swim on a splash pad? With Milwaukee's rivers, ponds and our lake, children need more water education and free swimming lessons to protect them so the tragedies we have seen involving children and water are at the very least decreased. Walker will starve every County department to death until he can dismantle all of the safety net services and eliminate the things that make Milwaukee a great place to live. He will force the County Board to restore services and then tout himself to the rest of the state as the champion of holding the line on taxes so he can be governor at their expense. "Imagine what I could have done if it wasn't for that horrible County Board who wouldn't play nice with me?" he says placing his thumb in his mouth. Yes Scotty we can and it gives us nightmares,,,
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