6-6-13 fdl county executive concerned about bill weakening milwaukee county board

The Fond du Lac County Executive and head of the Wisconsin counties association is expressing concern about a new law that weakens the powers of the Milwaukee County Board.  The governor signed the bill into law last week.  The measure increases the power of the Milwaukee County Executive, reduces terms of county supervisors from four to two years and requires a biding referendum next year on cutting supervisor salaries in half.  Fond du lac County executive Al Buechel says the concern is whether the measure could lead to similar changes being forced on other units of local government across Wisconsin.  "The reason we are concerned is it does set a precedent of having the state get directly involved in the operations of county government,"  Buechel said.  "Its not much of a reach that they would get involved in the operations of city or village government as well."