Bill to Lift Residency Requirements Advances in Wis.

April 28--MADISON -- A state bill that would lift Milwaukee's residency requirement for police officers and firefighters squeaked out of committee Wednesday.

An Assembly committee voted 5-4 to advance the bill introduced by suburban Republican lawmakers, which would allow Milwaukee police officers and firefighters to live anywhere in the five-county area, not just in the city. Rep. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) joined all Democrats in voting against the bill, with all other Republicans favoring it.

Also Wednesday, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and other mayors from around the state offered a plan to lawmakers to avert a potential budget gap from state aid cuts. The group says there's a $53 million gap between Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget cuts in state aid to local governments and savings they could receive through state-imposed cuts in union workers' pension and health benefits. A spokesman for Walker, however, said the new savings tools available to local governments should already balance out state aid cuts.

Before the vote on the residency bill, Rep. Mike Kuglitsch (R-New Berlin), one of the bill's sponsors, told Democrats he wouldn't rule out changes to the bill but said the issue was one of personal freedom for public safety workers in the city.

"I'm looking at a fundamental right that these police and fire (workers) should have the right to live where they choose and choose where their kids go to school," Kuglitsch said.

But supporters of the requirement said that Republicans were trampling on Milwaukee's right to govern itself.

Barrett said that the bill wouldn't lift the residency requirement on other City of Milwaukee or Milwaukee Public Schools employees and that dozens of other communities in the state could still keep their requirements that their employees live near their communities.

"Obviously, they're targeting only the City of Milwaukee and creating an exception only for police and fire departments," Barrett said.

The city has no trouble hiring police and firefighters, despite the requirement, he said.

Supporters said the rule has remained in place since 1938 and is strongly supported by Milwaukee's elected leaders because it keeps public safety workers closer to the neighborhoods they serve and helps support the city's housing market.

The fate of the legislation is still not clear. John Jagler, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon), and Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said their bosses hadn't made a final decision on whether to support the bill.

Funding gap

At the mayors' news conference, Barrett said the state could help avert a funding gap for cities by restoring $32 million that Walker has proposed cutting in grants to local governments for recycling programs.

Key lawmakers such as Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, have said they will likely restore some but not all of the recycling grants.

Barrett and other mayors also called for restoring $28 million in cuts in state transportation aid for local roads and bridges. They said restoring the state aid in recycling and transportation aid wouldn't add to the state's projected shortfall of $3.5 billion in its main account because the recycling and road money comes from separate funds.

If the cuts to aid remain in the budget bill, cities could be forced to look at cuts in services, said Racine Mayor John Dickert.

Werwie said local governments can rely on savings in health and pension benefits that were part of Walker's budget-repair legislation approved last month. That measure has been blocked so far from taking effect by a Dane County judge because of allegations that GOP lawmakers violated the state open meetings law in passing it.

"The budget Governor Walker introduced provides more savings to municipalities than it cuts in state aid to local units of government," Werwie said.

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