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I've been reading with interest the turmoil in Milwaukee County with the board of supervisors. The 18 member county board is the only full-time board in the state. Each board member is paid $50,000 a year with full health and retirement benefits. Each supervisor is allowed to have a paid staff. The board has become so dysfunctional because of their micro-management that the state is stepping in.
This week a bill was introduced that will allow voters to decide if the pay should be reduced to a part-time level to about $24,000 a year and reduce the board's budget by half. Milwaukee County is the only county in the state that has four-year terms and that would also be reduced to two-year terms to match the rest of the county boards in the state. The board's power would also be curtailed and shifted to where it belongs with the county executive.
The state has the authority to step in because unlike Wisconsin cities and villages, counties do not have broad constitutional "home rule" authority. This means that, while cities and villages have broad authority to act for the health, welfare and safety of their citizens, counties may only undertake functions that are expressly granted them by state statutes.
County boards are the least powerful of governing bodies in the state, but county boards across the state are also famous for micro-management. What the state is doing with Milwaukee County could be just the tip of the iceberg and depending on how it turns out, reforms could possibly come to all county boards.
The size of county boards is also part of the state discussion. An interesting fact regarding county boards is their size as 10% of all county board members in the United States are in Wisconsin. County boards in all 72 counties range in size from 7 to 38 seats. They include seven of the ten largest boards in the nation. By contrast, Iowa law restricts board size to either three or five members. Larger boards, on which each supervisor represents a smaller number of citizens, reflect a Wisconsin tradition of keeping local government "close to the people."
Iowa County has 21 supervisors and after the 2010 census had a chance to reduce the boards size, they choose not to. A county board can also be reduced by petitions circulated by the public. The question is the right size board to fit the needs of Iowa County.
After covering the county board for 23 years, I've seen all kinds of scenarios at election time. A few times there have been big shifts in the board, but not because there was some big interest in being a county board member, but because there was a big issue that drew outrage from the public.
When I started covering the board in 1990, if county board member wanted to go off the board it was expected they would canvas their district to find a replacement. If the incumbent couldn't find someone to run, they usually ran again. Very seldom were there any contested races.
In recent years when a county board member didn't run, nobody else would file to run and on Election Day the seat would go to a write-in. Two years ago one seat was vacant for over a year because no one stepped forward to fill it.
Does that mean having a smaller board would be would be easier to fill? I don't know, but counties with smaller boards don't seem to have problems at election time finding candidates who want to run. Iowa County also has an administrator which by state law has shifted some of the authority of the board to the administrator, so that could possibly determine what size the board should be.
The board could possibly go down to 11, 13 or 15 members without effecting the operation of the county. They could also determine that 21 members is just the right fit.
I'm not advocating one way or another, but with county board elections a year away it might deserve some study. It's best for each county to look at themselves and determine what is best the best board size, before the state steps in like they are in Milwaukee County.