County Board, Abele wrestle for control of department salaries
The Milwaukee County Board and County Executive Chris Abele will square off Thursday in their long-standing dispute over which branch of government has authority to set pay ranges for department heads and 300 other employees.
Abele has secured a Thursday morning hearing in county Circuit Court for his request to block board action later that day. The board intends to implement its resolution to abolish pay ranges created by the executive since 2014 for employees not covered by civil service rules.
The resolution was adopted May 25 by a veto-proof majority of 16-1. Supervisor Deanna Alexander opposed the measure.
The board has set a special meeting Thursday afternoon — just seven days after their vote on the resolution — to override Abele’s expected veto. An Abele spokeswoman said last week that the executive would veto it.
A successful override vote would force the Human Resources department to return executive appointees and other unclassified employees to the board’s previously authorized and lower pay ranges. Among the positions impacted by the board’s move: corporation counsel, parks director, airport director, zoo director, budget manager, and health and human services director.
The hearing in Circuit Judge John DiMotto’s courtroom begins at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. The board meeting is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.
Abele claims in a May 26 court filing that blocking the board’s preferred lower salaries for those workers is necessary to “prevent the mass exodus of qualified unclassified employees who will be irritated by having their salaries slashed below market rate.”
The board’s resolution will cut thousands of dollars this year from annual salaries of several top department heads and administrators who were given pay raises by Abele that exceeded maximum limits of earlier board-approved ranges.
Health and Human Services Director Hector Colòn would be hit with a $54,518 pay cut.
Supervisors said the resolution simply re-establishes their authority to set pay ranges for this group of employees in the wake of an April 24 court ruling.
DiMotto ruled last month that the board did not lose its authority to set pay ranges for appointees and other unclassified workers when a 2013 change in state law, known as Act 14, was enacted.
“The court found that the Abele administration exceeded their authority in granting the excessive pay,” Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb Sr. said in a statement.
Abele had taken the position since 2014 that the law took away the board’s power to set pay ranges for that group of employees.
The board sued Abele last year to clarify the impact of the law.
On May 26, Abele asked the state Appeals Court to review that part of DiMotto’s ruling. That same day he asked DiMotto to stay, or delay, implementation of the judge’s own order pending the appeal.
In a motion asking DiMotto to step back into the fray and block the board from moving ahead, Abele’s attorney says the resolution “will reduce the salaries of dozens of Milwaukee County employees, mostly those who hold the highest, most critical positions in county leadership.”
“These high-ranking, leadership employees were difficult to recruit and retain, and slashing their salaries will undoubtedly lead to their departure,” the court filing says.
Under the board’s resolution, even low-level unclassified employees hired since 2014 could face pay cuts if their salaries exceed maximum rates in boardapproved ranges for their jobs.
In April, DiMotto ruled in Abele’s favor on a few other related issues.
DiMotto stated the board does not have authority to control the advancement of individual employees within pay ranges.
Increases in pay within a range and promotions to higher job classifications are not policy decisions, and the board is prohibited by state law from infringing on such administrative functions, according to DiMotto.