County Board overrides Abele veto on pay ranges

Many department heads are facing substantial salary cuts

Employee pay ranges created by County Executive Chris Abele since 2014 that were not approved by the County Board will be abolished after supervisors Thursday overwhelmingly voted to override an Abele veto of the measure.

The county Human Resources department must return executive appointees, including many department heads, to the board’s authorized pay ranges to comply with the board’s action.

The board voted 13-1 to override the veto. Supervisor Deanna Alexander cast the lone vote to sustain it.

An April 24 court order opened the door for the board’s action Thursday.

In that decision, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge John DiMotto ruled the board did not lose its authority to set pay ranges for appointees and other employees not covered by civil service rules under a 2013 change in state law known as Act 14. The decision affects 300 unclassified jobs.

Abele had created new pay ranges and provided higher salaries for at least 25 of the unclassified employees, including many department heads, since 2014.

Forty-five other unclassified jobs were placed in new pay ranges with lower salaries than would have been provided under board-approved ranges, according to a report provided to supervisors by the comptroller’s office.

The total of the pay cuts awaiting the 25 employees is larger than the total of salary increases for the 45 employees, the report said. So the board’s action will save more than $64,000 for the remainder of this year and nearly $120,000 in 2018.

Abele had taken the position since 2014 that Act 14 removed the board’s power to establish pay ranges for any of the unclassified jobs.

The board sued Abele last year to clarify the impact of the law.

Armed with DiMotto’s ruling in April, the board on May 25 adopted a resolution to abolish the Abele pay ranges.

Just four hours before the board’s meeting Thursday, DiMotto denied Abele’s request to delay implementation of the April court order pending the executive’s appeal to the state appeals court. Approval of a delay would have blocked the board from taking its final action Thursday.

In Thursday’s ruling, DiMotto dismissed as speculative Abele’s concern that substantial pay cuts imposed by the board’s action would result in an exodus of qualified employees. It is likely that some department heads and other appointees would quit their jobs if salaries were cut below market rates, Abele said in requesting the delay.

Abele said Thursday he will comply with the judge’s ruling pending the appeal.

In a statement, he described the board’s lawsuit as an “attack on county workers.” Loss of the pay ranges set by the executive “may result in public employees feeling so threatened and intimidated that we will not be able to attract and retain these talented employees,” Abele said.

Although collection of overpayments to the 25 unclassified employees is authorized under county ordinances, the board-approved resolution did not seek to claw back any of the excess pay received to date.

At Thursday’s board meeting, Supervisor Steve Taylor urged Abele to bring requests for changes to pay ranges to the board’s personnel committee.

In a statement, Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb Sr. asked Abele to drop the appeal of DiMotto’s April ruling.