Waukesha seeks employee pay freeze

Waukesha's proposed 2010 budget would avoid significant service cuts and employee layoffs, provided the city's labor unions agree to new contracts with a one-year pay freeze.

The budget plan, which City Administrator Lori Curtis Luther will present to the Finance Committee at 7 p.m. Tuesday, assumes pay freezes for all other employees, whether elected, appointed or nonunion, as well. It would also continue the hiring freeze on civilian jobs already in place this year and keep about 16 jobs vacant.

About two-thirds of the city's 550 employees are unionized. If the freeze doesn't fly, Luther said, layoffs would be considered.

Luther called 2010 "the most difficult budget year faced by the City of Waukesha" but said her proposal keeps the city on sound financial footing.

The budget calls for spending $57.4 million for operations next year, up 2.6%. The figure includes $220,000 more for higher landfill fees triggered by a state law change; $290,000 for pension fund increases; $1 million more due to an 18.5% increase in health insurance costs; and $82,000 for mandated testing and monitoring of the West Ave. landfill site.

Revenues -- except from property taxes and a recommended increase in ambulance fees -- are projected to drop by nearly $1 million. Mostly, that's because of less state aid, lower interest income and a drop in permits and other development-related fees.

The budget seeks a tax levy of $51.4 million, up 6.4%. Because Waukesha properties were reassessed this year, the first time since 2005, year-to-year comparisons of tax rates are not an accurate indicator of tax bill changes. In reassessments, individual properties go up in value, go down or stay the same.

However, the proposed city tax rate of $8.95 per $1,000 assessed value is 1.33% higher than last year's $8.83. Only property owners notified earlier this year that their property assessments dropped by at least 1.33% would see the city share of their tax bill also drop.

The median home value under the 2009 re-assessment is $199,600, up 1.89% from 2008, and would be billed $1,787 in city taxes. That's 3.24% higher than taxes paid on a home of median value last year.

The general tax levy increase includes about $434,000 to boost the fund balance, or built-in surplus, which is necessary so the city maintains a positive bond rating, Luther said. A drop in rating makes it increasingly more expensive for the city to borrow money.

The budget proposal also includes just over $9.8 million for general debt -- up just over $1 million, or nearly 12% -- to cover debt payments on previous capital projects and a one-time $359,063 cost tied to a landmark Supreme Court decision won by Walgreen Co. last year against about two dozen Wisconsin communities, including Waukesha, over how they had assessed Walgreens stores.

The Finance Committee will meet over the next month on the budget and make a recommendation to the Common Council in November. The council plans a 7 p.m. public hearing on the recommended budget Nov. 17 before adopting it later that night.