Supervisors to consider overriding David Crowley veto of pay raises, or vote on amended proposal

To approve, override or amend? That's the question about whether to move forward with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley's veto of a 36% salary increase for three top officials.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors called a special meeting for Friday to discuss Crowley's veto, which blocked the pay raises for the elected positions of treasurer, clerk and register of deeds.

All three of the current officials — Treasurer David Cullen, County Clerk George Christenson and Register of Deeds Israel Ramón — are up for re-election this fall, and the raises would have gone into effect in 2025 for the winners of those elections.

Currently, Christenson, Cullen and Ramón make almost $91,500 annually. With the 36% approval, their positions would have been paid roughly $124,000 starting next year.

While not opposed to increasing annual salaries for county employees, Crowley previously said: "We need to promote fiscal responsibility and thoughtful spending at every turn. We also must maintain our commitment to equity at all levels of County government."

Approving the board's resolution for a 36% increase would "create an inequitable, unfair environment between Milwaukee County’s elected officials, department leaders, and general employees," according to Crowley's statement.

Now, there's a new push from the County Board. Supervisors could avoid a veto override vote by introducing an amendment that would call for a smaller salary increase for the three positions in 2025.

Supervisor Shawn Rolland circulated an email on April 5 looking for co-sponsors for an amendment recommending an 11.5% compensation increase, reflecting what Crowley and his administration had previously proposed.

"Obviously, we want to make sure that we're providing competitive compensation for all so we have professional people doing these jobs — not unserious, advocate people kind of shooting from the hip," Rolland said. "We want to make sure that we have professional people who are serious rule-follower, law-follower people doing these jobs."

County supervisors initially approved the 36% increase in late March on a 16-1 in favor of the hike, with Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman voting no and Supervisor Ryan Clancy absent during the vote.

Of his vote against the increase, Wasserman said: "I think that the increase was just too much ... I think people right now, when we have all these different taxes going up, people are watching us and people are concerned about this."

He said a smaller proposed 11.5% increase would be "reasonable."

"They're being treated like everybody else — like other county employees. I think that's fair," he said. "No one is against fair compensation."

In a recent interview with former Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel Maggie Daun on her new eponymous show, Steve Taylor said he regretted his vote in favor of the 36% raises.

"I should have questioned it and shame on me," he said. "It's difficult when you have to work with these people and you respect the job that they do, but at the same time it's also funded by the taxpayers, it doesn't have a very good look and thankfully the county executive sent down the veto and we can have this discussion and see where people stand on it."

"I'm willing to admit that I errored in my vote and I will correct it," he said.

The initial 36% hike came about after suggestions that county ordinance requires the county to adopt a specific salary for constitutional officers, including the sheriff, clerk of circuit court, treasurer, register of deeds and county clerk.

"I think there've been a lot of questions about do we have to follow that ordinance legally or is it just sort of a suggestion that a past board has passed on to future boards to consider," Rolland said.

When asked if he had been lobbied internally, Rolland said that he had been approached by Christenson about the ordinance.

"One person's lobbying is another person's information," he said. "I just consider it to be information as part of the analysis ... I can't be in the heads of 17 other people and if they think that that's advocacy or influence. I feel like that's a judgment call and I've never felt influence. I just felt like it was people passing on information just like any other topic that we've considered."

Christenson said it was in Crowley's power to veto the originally proposed resolution, but felt that "it's important that we follow the ordinance, and that we strive for equity across the across the entire county, across the board."

Of whether the 11.5% approval would be fair, Christenson said: "I think it's better than a sharp stick in the eye."

Carlos Bruno, president of the Milwaukee Deputy Sheriffs' Association, voiced his frustrations about seeing potential raises for the three officials while other county employees have not seen such increases and also when departments, particularly the Sheriff's Office, have struggled to address staffing shortages.

If a raise is approved, Bruno said: "I'd feel disgusted. Those positions don't deserve a raise. They're not doing anything internally that helps the county at all. We're in dire need, but you're more worried about giving internal politics more money."

Bruno said the money would be put to better use to hire full-time officers as the agency faces an exodus of staff, with 44 deputies leaving due to resignations, terminations, and deferred retirement in just over the last year.

"Are you going to wait until we have a sinking ship like we did in the jail?" he said. "We barely have enough staffing."

But is the county legally bound to set certain salaries for these three positions?

"The short answer is no," Scott F. Brown, acting corporation counsel, wrote in a letter on April 5 addressed to the county executive and supervisors. "(The Office of Corporation Counsel) review has found no authority in statute, ordinance, or caselaw that requires that the County adopt a specific salary for the positions of the Register of Deeds, County Treasurer, and County Clerk."

Brown added: "It is OCC’s opinion that (the ordinance) does not establish an objective legal standard for setting compensation nor does it compel the County Board to take any particular action in regard to the same."

Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or [email protected]. Follow her on X @Vanessa_Swales.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County Board to take up David Crowley veto of 36% pay raises