Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors is the legislative branch of the government of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. Supervisors are elected to the board in nonpartisan elections. There are 18 supervisors. The county board has several committees and votes on issues involving the county, such as the budget.

As of 1960, membership on the Board was considered more desirable than membership in the Wisconsin State Assembly, and incumbent legislators would often seek a position on the Board, resigning their legislative positions if they were victorious. By the early 21st century, this was no longer the case, and it was instead common for county supervisors to run for the legislature, even though Milwaukee County supervisors were paid fractionally more than the average salary for state legislators. Incumbent supervisors Elizabeth M. Coggs and Chris Larson were elected to the legislature, for example in 2010. An exception to this pattern was the case of Democratic Assemblyman David Cullen, who ran for and won a seat on the Board in early 2012, after a Republican legislature drastically redistricted his Assembly seat, where he had served for over two decades.

Amidst a period of economic growth, in 1999, Milwaukee County was experiencing a problem with employee retention. Balancing local taxpayer pressures to not raise property taxes with the need to retain trained employees led the County's Human Resources Administrators to look at the County Pension fund which, invested in a successful stock market, had flourished.

County administrators, after consulting with the actuarial firm, Mercer and Associates, recommended that the County Board's Pension Study Committee pass approval of a controversial "backdrop benefit" employee pension plan designed for employee retention. Once passed, the plan could be advanced to the full County Board. In 2000, the head of the County's Human Resources department testified that, according to the Milwaukee's only daily newspaper, the "backdrop benefit cost estimate was done. County pension consultants from Mercer Inc. do not speak up, though say later they knew the remark was inaccurate." Administrators explained that the proposal was "revenue neutral" and that proceeds from investments would cover any expenses that could occur. After advancing to the full County Board, it was passed.

...
Wikipedia