• Tweet
• Share
• Email
• Print

MILWAUKEE - County Supervisor Elizabeth M. Coggs calls it an emergency within county government: Nearly 200 county workers are expected to be handed layoff notices at any time and word is, they're devastated.

"I've had several county employees come up to me and I can see it in their face," Coggs said. "These people represent families, they represent children… This is right before the holidays."

Supervisors are blaming the cuts on mismanagement of the county's Medicaid payments which helped contribute to the county's $3 million deficit.

"I believe that a lot of the problems had to do with the Finance Committee not getting all the information at the proper time," said Chairman Lee Holloway.

County Executive Scott Walker took heat for attending a fundraising event for his gubernatorial run instead of facing soon-to-be laid off county workers. Walker says he worked hard to avoid any job cuts.

"We have sought out so many ways to avoid layoffs… through 35-hour work weeks, through furloughs, and through other actions, but in the end we have an obligation to balance the budget," Walker said.

Supervisors complain the layoffs will affect lower tiered workers… like park employees and maintenance people. They're vowing to keep looking at ways to save these jobs.

"If they're going to lay off, the layoffs should be evenly distributed," said Coggs. "They shouldn't be the low level income salaried worker in Milwaukee County."

County Board Chairman Lee Holloway fired off an angry inter-office memo in response to news of the job cuts. He told Walker's top aides that they had better hope Scott Walker does not win his bid for governor because if he (Holloway) becomes interim County Executive he "can and will fire them."

County supervisors plan a closed door meeting Friday morning to discuss the impending layoffs.