MONROE - Green County and City of Monroe union contract negotiations are proceeding, despite the turmoil over public worker unions in Madison.
Still, local officials say they don't know what financial impact contract agreements will have on their budgets, until state legislators make up their minds about collective bargaining rights, employee contributions to health and retirement benefits, and the state's overall budget, including shared revenues.
The local governments are proceeding with the understanding that signed contracts trump any changes caused by state legislation, until the next round of contract negotiations. But local officials anticipate state-shared revenue will decrease starting next year, and that, they say means cuts in local services.
Green County
Green County's Personnel and Labor Relations Committee is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) at the courthouse.
Among the agenda items is a closed session for labor negotiations, where an agreed-upon 90/10 split for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) health insurance benefits will be reviewed, according to Brian Bucholtz, corporate counsel for Green County. The committee will reconvene at 7:45 p.m. for possible action on the matter.
The county board of supervisors would still need to approve the agreement at a later date.
The county had offered AFSCME the 90/10 split, the same shared-payment ratio as agreed upon for the deputies' Wisconsin Professional Police Association (WPPA) contract and the highway and landfill employees' Teamsters contract.
AFSCME union employees work at Pleasant View, the courthouse, the justice center and the Department of Human Services.
However, AFSCME negotiators wanted to take the issue into arbitration.
Bucholtz said the pending state budget repair bill, submitted by Gov. Scott Walker Feb. 11, may have prompted AFSCME employees to withdraw their request for arbitration early last week.
AFSCME asked instead for the county's offer of a 90/10 split for health insurance.
The deputies' WPPA contract is "signed, sealed, delivered and executed," said Bucholtz.
The Teamsters contract was agreed upon in December, but still has not been signed, awaiting approval by the county board of supervisors.
City of Monroe
The City of Monroe Salary and Personnel Committee continue negotiations with its AFSCME union employees Feb. 28. City Administrator Phil Rath believes adjustments to each side's contract proposals will be made at that meeting.
The city had been paying 100 percent of employees' contributions to the state retirement fund. Employees have been paying five percent of their health care premiums.
The city has 53 employees in the AFSCME union, five employees in the WPPA dispatch union, and 23 in the WPPA police officers union. Negotiations are going on with all three unions, whose contracts ran out Dec. 31. Rath said the city has been discussing two-year contracts with its employees.
Future Budgets
Rath said the city's 2011 budget could be affected by contract negotiations, and a larger potential impact on the budget is the expected loss of shared revenues from the state.
The city received a total of $1.5 million in shared revenue for this year, but there is no guarantee how much, if any, it will get next year.
Rath said he hasn't seen anything to clarify how the pending state changes will affect contracts, but that contract terms hold until the contract runs out. Rath and Mayor Bill Ross are developing an ad hoc committee, comprised of city staff and council members, to look at reorganizing the structure of city government.
"We will be looking at services, what to include and what not to include," Rath said.
County clerk, Mike Doyle, said there is "no use of even thinking about how to proceed," - and no one at the state level can tell him - until state legislators in Madison complete their work.
About 370 union employees work for the county, said Doyle, and about 300 of those are likely to be affected by the state's actions.
Doyle said the county can't raise its taxes, so it will most likely have to cut services.
"The county doesn't run in a deficit," he said. "We have to have a balanced budget."
Rath said the city could cut services, lay off workers, raise taxes or borrow for operating expenses.
Borrowing is the least likely option, he said, because "you're never going to catch up."
Still, local officials say they don't know what financial impact contract agreements will have on their budgets, until state legislators make up their minds about collective bargaining rights, employee contributions to health and retirement benefits, and the state's overall budget, including shared revenues.
The local governments are proceeding with the understanding that signed contracts trump any changes caused by state legislation, until the next round of contract negotiations. But local officials anticipate state-shared revenue will decrease starting next year, and that, they say means cuts in local services.
Green County
Green County's Personnel and Labor Relations Committee is scheduled to meet at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) at the courthouse.
Among the agenda items is a closed session for labor negotiations, where an agreed-upon 90/10 split for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) health insurance benefits will be reviewed, according to Brian Bucholtz, corporate counsel for Green County. The committee will reconvene at 7:45 p.m. for possible action on the matter.
The county board of supervisors would still need to approve the agreement at a later date.
The county had offered AFSCME the 90/10 split, the same shared-payment ratio as agreed upon for the deputies' Wisconsin Professional Police Association (WPPA) contract and the highway and landfill employees' Teamsters contract.
AFSCME union employees work at Pleasant View, the courthouse, the justice center and the Department of Human Services.
However, AFSCME negotiators wanted to take the issue into arbitration.
Bucholtz said the pending state budget repair bill, submitted by Gov. Scott Walker Feb. 11, may have prompted AFSCME employees to withdraw their request for arbitration early last week.
AFSCME asked instead for the county's offer of a 90/10 split for health insurance.
The deputies' WPPA contract is "signed, sealed, delivered and executed," said Bucholtz.
The Teamsters contract was agreed upon in December, but still has not been signed, awaiting approval by the county board of supervisors.
City of Monroe
The City of Monroe Salary and Personnel Committee continue negotiations with its AFSCME union employees Feb. 28. City Administrator Phil Rath believes adjustments to each side's contract proposals will be made at that meeting.
The city had been paying 100 percent of employees' contributions to the state retirement fund. Employees have been paying five percent of their health care premiums.
The city has 53 employees in the AFSCME union, five employees in the WPPA dispatch union, and 23 in the WPPA police officers union. Negotiations are going on with all three unions, whose contracts ran out Dec. 31. Rath said the city has been discussing two-year contracts with its employees.
Future Budgets
Rath said the city's 2011 budget could be affected by contract negotiations, and a larger potential impact on the budget is the expected loss of shared revenues from the state.
The city received a total of $1.5 million in shared revenue for this year, but there is no guarantee how much, if any, it will get next year.
Rath said he hasn't seen anything to clarify how the pending state changes will affect contracts, but that contract terms hold until the contract runs out. Rath and Mayor Bill Ross are developing an ad hoc committee, comprised of city staff and council members, to look at reorganizing the structure of city government.
"We will be looking at services, what to include and what not to include," Rath said.
County clerk, Mike Doyle, said there is "no use of even thinking about how to proceed," - and no one at the state level can tell him - until state legislators in Madison complete their work.
About 370 union employees work for the county, said Doyle, and about 300 of those are likely to be affected by the state's actions.
Doyle said the county can't raise its taxes, so it will most likely have to cut services.
"The county doesn't run in a deficit," he said. "We have to have a balanced budget."
Rath said the city could cut services, lay off workers, raise taxes or borrow for operating expenses.
Borrowing is the least likely option, he said, because "you're never going to catch up."