The Vanguard

Governor Walker's Plan Will Save Falls Taxpayers an Average of $736 Over 2 Years

Posted by Jefferson Davis on March 10, 2011

Walker $736 Falls taxpayer savings unions

Thank You Governor Walker and the Republican Legislature

Kudos to Governor Walker and the Republican Legislature for having the courage and fortitude to "...do the right thing" for the State of Wisconsin and for the taxpayers of Wisconsin.

This is long overdue!

Instead of having the former squishy Republican State Representative Sue Jeskewitz in office who was the darling of WEAC (Wisconsin Education Association Council www.weac.org) while she was in the Assembly, Menomonee Falls now has Dan Knodl who has done more and accomplished more in 2 years than Sue Jeskewitz ever did during her 10 years in office.

Wisconsin will be seen as the worldwide leader in getting its financial and fiscal house in order before it may be too late to do anything about it as the citizens of Greece, Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany and many other socialistic European governments have recently learned after decades of failed progressive policies and irresponsible financial mismanagement of taxpayer funds that have nearly bankrupted their governments (http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/economy-eurozone.8zh).

Now Wisconsin can get serious about dealing with some of the following imminent financial matters that have been postponed too long instead of kicking them down the road jeopardizing all of Wisconsin:

1. $58 million Prisoner Fee to Minnesota that is 4 months past due.
2. Refinancing Wisconsin Debt to save $165 million for taxpayers in interest costs.
3. Addressing Medicaid's $1.8 billion shortfall for 2011-13.
4. Repaying the court ordered $200 million Patient's Compensation Fund obligation.
5. Dealing with the $137 million 2009-2011 Budget Shortfall by June 30, 2011.
6. Closing the $3.6 billion deficit for the 2011-13 Budget.

Send your thank yous to Menomonee Falls legislators as follows:

1. Senator Alberta Darling (http://legis.wisconsin.gov/W3asp/contact/legislatorpages.aspx?house=Senate&district=8)
2. Senator Rich Zipperer (http://legis.wisconsin.gov/W3asp/contact/legislatorpages.aspx?house=Senate&district=33)
3. Representative Dan Knodl (http://legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/contact/legislatorpages.aspx?house=Assembly&district=24)
4. Representative Don Pridemore (http://legis.wisconsin.gov/W3asp/contact/legislatorpages.aspx?house=Assembly&district=99)
5. Governor Walker (http://walker.wi.gov/section.asp?linkid=1714&locid=177)

The overwhelming majority of public service employees are honest and serve their communities well.

Please take time to thank a public service employee for their dedication and commitment.

Walker Plan Will Save the Average Homeowner $736 in Taxes Over the 2 Years

The average homeowner in Menomonee Falls will save approximately $736 in property taxes over a 2 year period under Governor Walker's 2011-2013 Budget Proposal on a $161,300 home( http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/March11/0301/0301budgetverybrief.pdf).

$736 is real money to most homeowners and will be used more wisely by individuals to stimulate the local economy than it will be to redistribute it to public employee salaries, retirement and benefits that most workers would dream of having.

Rather than raiding segregated funds, tobacco settlement bonds, using bookkeeping gimmicks, raising taxes of all kinds, increasing fees and using the good 'ol "wink, wink, nod, nod" of which hand is the pea in technique, Governor Walker and the Republican Legislature will not raise taxes, will reduce spending to be more in line with the real world and will ask public employees to help pay for a little bit of their guaranteed retirement pensions and top of the line health care plans.

Before the effect of the Governor's Budget Plan will have on the Village of Menomonee Falls and the Menomonee Falls School District is disclosed, The Vanguard has learned of some very interesting developments involving attacks on the Governor and Republican Legislators from the progressives, unions, democrat operatives, liberals and the Obama Administration gearing up for recalls and the 2012 election cycle and death threats to members of the Republican Legislature.

The Governor's Plan will give much more local control to school districts, counties and municipalities to deal with the various union groups and controlling costs to save taxpayers millions of dollars.

The Real Reason for the Progressive Liberal Uproar...Control and Power for Obama and Unions

Democrats, liberals, progressives and unions all realize that if Governor Walker and the Republican Legislature are successful in implementing their cost saving measures for the taxpayers of Wisconsin, campaign contributions for liberal and progressive causes from union dues will necessarily dry up and will threaten the re-election of Barrack Obama in 2012 and will keep democrats in the minority for a long time.

Everyone knows that public sector workers make more money and have better benefits that private sector workers do (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-03-01-1Apublicworkers01_ST_N.htm).

Retiring NEA (National Education Association) General Counsel, Bob Chanin, openly and proudly admits, "...it's not about the kids...it's about power and control" in his attached video (http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/02/23/teachers-union-big-wig-says-its-not-about-kids-its-about-power) which shows the hypocrisy of the education big wigs all along.

And now, thanks to Jim Doyle and the progressive legislators, all Wisconsin public school students are mandated to be taught labor union and collective bargaining history effective in December of 2009 (http://www.wisconsinlaborhistory.org/?p=265).

Maybe Scott Walker and the republicans can get this repealed too along with the silly feel good mascot fiasco that only the politically correct crowd wanted to jam down the throats of innocent people.

This is all about power and control of unions for democrats and their re-elections at taxpayer expense through union dues and campaign contributions.

Everyone knows that union fat cat leaders get paid unheard of salaries (most at $300,000 and some in excess of $600,000 http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117290533.html) at the expense of taxpayers and middle class workers who would be much better off with more worker privileges and benefits without lining the pockets of a few so called union "leaders" to have their "own" union which would be themselves.

Everyone knows that unions overwhelmingly and forcibly take money from good and honest workers to give to democrat campaigns whether those workers want their money to go to democrats or not as the following chart from the Center for Responsive Politics (http://www.opensecrets.org/) illustrates:

That's a difference of about $485,000,000 (million) for democrats in union campaign contributions to about $27,500,000 for non-democrats or about $457,500,000 (million) for our progressive friends.

Who said this was about money, power and control for the democrats over the common Joe as they work in concert with the press and media?

Naaaaah. 

Can't be.

No matter what the facts are, just keep telling the faithful what they want to hear as they blindly walk off the cliff to their peril.

A confidential democrat/union operative memo has been obtained by the Wisconsin Club for Growth that specifically outlines what the legal strategy of the unions and democrats are through the courts to block everything that the Governor and Legislature hope to pass in the 2011-2013 Budget and Budget Repair Bill this year.

A copy of the lengthy memo of the democrat/union strategy can be viewed by clicking the attached links (http://wicfg.com/index.cfm/m/3/s/1.cfm/story/247.cfm and http://wicfg.com/assets/UNION_PREPARES_LAWSUIT_BEFORE_BILL_PASSES.PDF) which will seek an immediate injunction against the Governor's Budget Bill by the democrats and unions in Dane County Circuit Court which has a history of liberal judges who favor liberal causes.

The Vanguard has also learned that the Obama Administration is directly behind the recall efforts of 8 republican senators in hopes of stalling the passage of any bill in the legislature giving the liberal, progressive, union and democrat operatives time to hopefully regain control of the State Senate and in time to recall Governor Walker after he has been in office for one year in January of 2012.

A copy of public statements by Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and others can be viewed by clicking on the attached link (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/10/wisconsin-republicans-claim-obama-advisers-recall-campaign/).

Death Threats to Republican Legislators

Menomonee Falls Senator Alberta Darling has unfortunately received a death threat(s) along with others (http://nation.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/10/wisconsin-republicans-get-death-threats and http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20110113/OSH0101/110113128/Johnson-Walker-other-elected-officials-target-threats) and will probably receive continued threats for her courage in doing the right thing for the majority of Wisconsin taxpayers.

What Senator Darling had to go through with former Village President Joe Greco and Republican State Representative Sue Jeskewitz and their Saul Alinsky, "Rules for Radicals", tactics over her former Chief of Staff, Chris Slinker, in 2004 is tiddlywinks compared to what she is going through now from the liberal progressive union wing of the democrat party.

Governor Walker's Plan Gives School District and Village Board the Tools to Substantially Lower Property Taxes...No More Excuses

The Vanguard has emailed Village and School District representatives seeking information to confirm the huge savings taxpayers in Menomonee Falls would enjoy under Governor Walker's Plan to give local governmental entities the necessary tools utilizing cost saving measures to make up for the projected reduction in aid to local school districts and municipalities.

To date, neither has responded to this request for information.

The Governor's Plan basically calls for a 9% reduction in State Aid to school districts and municipalities along with giving them the flexibility to eliminate collective bargaining for pension plans, health care contributions, unused sick leave cash payouts to retirees, recertification of unions, 2 year property tax levy cap, elimination of forced union dues for employees and overtime pay to mention a few.

The Governor's Plan will also give school districts the option of getting away from the excessively expensive union owned teacher health insurance non-profit corporation, WEA Trust (http://www.weatrust.com/wea/weamain.nsf/vw_pb_d/wea_whoweare), in order to save tens of millions of dollars annually for Wisconsin taxpayers by using private sector vendors for health care (http://www.publicschoolspending.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/WEA-Trust-final-report.pdf). 

Village Board Trustees Jim Jeskewitz, Mike McDonald, Jeff Steliga and Sharon Ellis along with School Board Members Kathy Shurilla, Ron Bertieri and Faith VanderHorst have for years blamed the governor and the legislature for hand cuffing local school districts and municipalities with increased costs to taxpayers because of collective bargaining and mediation/arbitration laws in Wisconsin.

The days of excuses by Menomonee Falls "leaders" are over!

These "leaders" will have no one to blame except themselves if they do not take advantage of the flexibility and tools that Governor Walker and the Legislature have given them to balance budgets and cut taxes through local control and no longer having to rely on blaming the State of Wisconsin.

Local Cost Savings and Reduction in Property Taxes Examined

The Vanguard openly welcomes and encourages anyone from the Village and School District to correct any of the following calculations based on their public documents and responses so far:

School District Cost Savings

• Total Salary for covered employees of $25,079,586 @ 5.8% cost share program for WRS Pension Plan contributions would mean a minimal cost savings for taxpayers of $1,454,615 on an annual basis.
• Total cost for health care, dental, income protection, annuities and Employee Benefit Trust contributions of $9,524, 856 @ 12.6% cost share program would mean a minimal cost savings of $1,200,131 for taxpayers on an annual basis.  This may be a tad high because there is a small cost share program in effect currently where employees pay a very small portion of their premiums.
• Total minimal cost savings for Menomonee Falls taxpayers under Governor Walker's Plan on an annual basis would be approximately $2,654,746 which would be more than enough to make up for the District's projected annual budget deficits of $1 million+ and reduction in State Aid of which the District receives about $8 million annually @ 9% reduction or $720,000 from the new plan.
• School District employees will now be able to use their annual union dues of $500-$1,000 for their cost share obligations for health care and pension plans.

Village Board Savings

• Village Board makes approximately $1.3 million annual contributions to WRS Pension Plan on behalf of Village Employees @ 5.8% cost share program would be a savings for taxpayers of Menomonee Falls of $650,000.  Village Employees currently pay 0% toward their retirement program with WRS.
• The Village's Health Care and Dental Programs costs approximately $3 million a year @ 12.6% cost share program would mean an annual savings for Menomonee Falls taxpayers of approximately  $378,000 which may be a tad high because Village Employees currently pay a very small amount toward their plans.
• The taxpayers pay the Village Board approximately $120,000 a year for unused sick leave cash payouts to Village Retirees which was discovered in 2003 when this funded and unfunded liability will or has cost taxpayers some $5 million since 1993 (http://www.jefferson-davis.info/images/Documents/Misc-Info-10-pgs05.png and http://www.jefferson-davis.info/images/Documents/Unused-Sick-Leave-Article.png) .  Governor Walker's Plan would allow for the Village Board to eliminate this benefit.
• Total minimal cost savings for Menomonee Falls taxpayers under Governor Walker's Plan on an annual basis would be approximately $1,148,000 which would be more than enough to make up for any reduction in state aid.  The Village receives approximately $950,000 a year in Shared Revenue that would be reduced by 9% according to the Governor's Plan or about $90,000. 
• Village employees will now be able to use their annual union dues of $500-$1,000 to pay for their cost share obligations for their pension and health care plans.

It is abundantly clear that Governor Walker and the true Republican Legislature have done everything they said they would to deal with the financial mess the State is in to get it's feet back on the ground before it's too late.

Happy days are here again!

Wisconsin finally has true conservatives and not RINO's (Republicans in Name Only) like Sue Jeskewitz anymore.

Wish that Wisconsin Republicans would have been as creative as the legislators in Indiana were when the democrats went AWOL there when the Indiana Republicans tried to reform their state government as well (http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/261850/indiana-house-republicans-sing-about-missing-democrat-lawmakers).  This is hilarious!

Public Sector Unions explained for all to understand (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su4PwZCWUdg&feature=player_embedded).

What do you think?

Let The Vanguard know what your thoughts are.

Do you agree with Governor Walker and the Republican Legislature to reduce spending and not raise taxes or do you agree with President Obama, democrats, unions, progressives and the Saul Alinsky types to maintain the status quo while raising taxes to make matters even worse than what they already are for Wisconsin which is one of the worst taxed states in America (http://econpost.com/business/worst-states-for-taxes-2010)?