ISSUES: PAY INCREASES AND COURT COMMISSIONER

At the next regular meeting of the Winnebago County Board ( May 16,2006) issues will be discusses and voted on. The first is the salary increases for all the county constitutional officers (Sheriff, DA, etc...) I heard from a source that the Personnel and Finance Committee a
3 % increase for all officers. I will agree to this at maximum I would agree to. A few of us on the board may try and eliminate a increase for one of the officers.

The other issue is should l the vacant Court Commissioners position , created when Karen Seifert will be sworn in July, be filled now or wait till the budget process in done by the County Board in October.

I support leaving the position not filled for beyond 2006 until after the budget is done. There are funds, due to the fact that Karen Seifert's Court Commissioner position was budgeted for the full year of 2006, to fund a substitute court commissioner when needed for the rest of 2006.

I have the position because I do not know what the County Board will do this budget cycle: what will be cut to make up the money we are not getting due to the tax freeze the state of Wisconsin has placed on us. Or maybe the County Board will raise the revenue not only to fully fund and keep this position but also other needed positions within County government.
I received a letter signed by all the judges in the Winnebago County in support of filling this position, this I did not surprise me just like Humans Service department or Highway department would say the same thing when they are faced with cuts in their department.

I do hope to hear from you on either one of these issues. To see another supervisors views Supervisor Jef Hall, here is the link to his site http://winnebago17.blogspot.com/'

MIKE NORTON