Who’s the Boss?

A great discussion is planned for the Intergovernmental Relations Class.  

Dan Thompson, Executive Director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities tells us …

Starting in 2010, a city or village that wants to operate its police department or its fire department more efficiently and save tax dollars will first need to get permission from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR).

I know it sounds crazy, but I am not making this up. The new requirement is called “maintenance of effort for emergency services.” It appears in Section 79.07 (3) of the Wisconsin statutes. Here is the language:

A county or municipality may decrease the amount it spends for emergency services below its 2009 amount, with the Department of Revenue’s approval, if the decrease in expenditures is a result of operating more efficiently, as determined by the department.

You’re thinking this can’t be true, right?

The State Department of Revenue having control over the cost of local police and fire protection?

How did this happen?

The politics of the new law, however, is perfectly clear. The police officers union and the firefighters union lobbied hard to persuade Gov. Doyle and legislative leaders to include “maintenance of effort for emergency services” in the 2009-11 state budget, signed into law on June 29 as Act 28.

The union goal is to prevent city councils and village boards from reducing the number of police officers and firefighters on the municipal payroll.

Any city council or village board that requests an “efficiency waiver” from DOR should expect a vigorous challenge from the police union and the firefighters union.

I’m still trying to get my arms around this.

The State Department of Revenue having veto power on how much MUST be spent by local government on police and fire protection.

By the time class discusses this maybe we’ll find out this is just a bad nightmare, but I doubt it.

Comments Anyone?

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 4:44 am and is filed under Intergovernmental Relations 101. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Who’s the Boss?”

Brett Rogers Says:

November 16th, 2009 at 7:03 am




We’re obviously not smart enough to know what’s in our own best interest. Good thing that our betters are in charge…