What A Humanitarian He Is!

The mayor of New Berlin, Jack Chiovatera, is as clueless as they come.

Chiovatera is in a spitting match with the city's Common Council over their 2011 budget. The council has recommended that each employees take 7.5 days furlough for the next year to keep the tax levy at the same level as this year. The mayor disagrees with this approach. He uses the most inane and insane logic I've ever heard to argue his point (emphasis mine):

The 7.5 furlough days will save the city nearly $424,000 if all are used.

In 2009, the city required employees to take four furlough days to avoid a budget deficit. That measure was not needed this year.

Under the mayor's budget and the budget approved by the council, the tax rate would be just under $4.98 per $1,000 of assessed value, unchanged from last year's rate.

The $34.3 million budget for 2011 is down about 1% compared with this year's $34.6 million budget.

The tax levy would rise to slightly more than $23.7 million from nearly $23.5 million. Ament said the increase reflects growth in the tax base from construction.

Ament said it is important to keep the tax rate flat because residents and businesses are suffering because of the recession.

"We've got residents and businesses hanging on by their fingernails," he said.

The austerity budgeting, Ament said, also is a reflection that "city employees are not insulated from the effects of the economy anymore."

Chiovatero said his budget, which included layoffs, also reflected that fact. But he considers 7.5 furlough days to be excessive, saying the plan "balances the budget on the backs of the employees."

Um, yeah.

So, in Mayor Chiovatero's world, 7.5 days of furloughs is excessive, but 365 days of unemployment isn't?

Where do the conservatives come up with these people?