McCallum diverts attention from the real problem By Sidney Vineburg News-Chronicle County Board members running for re-election are having a difficult time. The problem is that Gov. Scott McCallum, by shifting the blame for the state's huge deficit to counties and municipalities, has told the public that county and municipal governments are bloated, dripping with fat, and need to be trimmed. In other words, McCallum wants you to know that all of his problems are someone else's fault. And he is succeeding. The governor has been successful at diverting attention from a state budget that has been on the edge of disaster for years. Moody's, a firm that rates government bonds, clearly takes state government to task for pitifully small reserves, and rates state bonds lower than Brown County bonds. We also should not forget the $800 million political giveaway that caused this crisis in the first place. The truth is Brown County continues to do more with less. State caps, unfunded mandates and the unwillingness of the County Board to impose a sales tax would seem to point to a budget in which county services should be curtailed. Yet, the administration has managed to keep costs down while continuing to improve the quality of life in our community. One of the interesting trends County Board members are confronting during their visits with constituents is the desire to cut taxes without cutting services. It seems the governor has raised the expectation, through his attack on local government, that you can pay fewer taxes and have more services. This simply does not work. So what will it be? We could close libraries and the museum. Raise fees at the golf course. Extend the backed-up list of those with disabilities that need county services. The county can stop repairing and maintaining county roads, or stop contracting with the state to maintain its highways. We can let the Fox River Trail grow over and let the county buildings go without maintenance. We can stop building the new mental health center, let the state condemn the old one, and thereby put at risk those with mental disability or those elderly too poor or sick for a traditional nursing home. If the governor has his way, some or all of the above will disappear. Beloit had the best response yet to the governor's proposal: City leaders there have decided that if they lose shared revenue, they may have to disband the city. That is how devastating the governor's proposal is, and how destructive his contention that county and municipal government are big spenders. McCallum's revised budget proposal has not been introduced into the Legislature because certain inaccuracies needed to be corrected. Aside from the wording problems, the governor has been using "fuzzy math" in his assessment of local county revenues, giving inflated numbers so that his plan will look responsible. Brown County, for example, is listed in the report as having revenue at a rate $30 million more than is actually the case. There is little doubt that the governor's plan will change significantly before it is signed into law. But the damage that McCallum's attack on local government has done to the credibility of those who serve on local county and municipal boards, part time and for little pay, is inexcusable. Sidney Vineburg is the rabbi of Congregation Cnesses Israel in Gren Bay, adjunct professor of religious studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, chairman of the Democratic Party of Brown County and president of the Brown County Library Board. His column appears here on Sundays. Opposing or supplemental views are welcome. Write to him at [email protected]