WERC Issues Revised Union Election Rules
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 21, 2011
On September 15, 2011 the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) published final administrative rules regarding union elections required under 2011 Wisconsin Acts 10 and 32.
Davis & Kuelthau has graciously allowed the SAA to post its recent Client Update on the subject for your information.
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Contributi?ons Total $44 Million for Recall Campaigns
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 21, 2011
Nearly $44 million.
That’s how much the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign estimates special interests, candidates and political committees spent on this year’s nine Senate recall elections.
That’s twice the record amount spent on legislation races in an election year and topped the most expensive race in state history — the $37.4 million spent in the 2010 guv’s race.
In 2008, all sides spent $20.25 million on all 99 Assembly and 16 Senate seats up for election that fall, according to WDC.
The WDC said Dems, seeking to take over the state Senate, outspent Republicans $23.4 million to $20.5 million.
Also, outside groups accounted for $34.5 million of the money spent overall, while candidates dropped just short of $8 million, the WDC estimated. That includes $4.04 million by Republican candidates and $3.95 million by Dems.
Six of the nine recall elections topped the previous record for a legislative campaign of $3 million in the 2000 race for western Wisconsin’s 10th Senate District. What’s more, three candidates topped the most spent by a legislative candidate previously, $722,333 by Dem Sheldon Wasserman in 2008 as he tried unsuccessfully to beat GOP Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills.
This year, Darling spent a record $1.23 million in the 8th SD. That was followed by Republican Dan Kapanke of LaCrosse, who spent $1.05 million in losing the 32nd SD, and Dem Rep. Sandy Pasch, who spent $800,744 in losing to Darling.
The Milwaukee-area’s 8th SD was the most expensive race with nearly $10 million spent by all sides, followed by: the 14th at $7.2 million; the 10th at $6.2 million; the 12th at nearly $6 million; the 18th SD at nearly $4.2 million; the 32nd SD at $3.7 million; the 22nd SD at $2.9 million; the 30th SD at more than $1.3 million; and the 2nd at more than $1.1 million.
Among outside groups, the pro-Dem We Are Wisconsin was the biggest spender at $10.75 million, while the pro-Republican Club for Growth spent $9 million.
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Stroebel Rolls Out “Double Dipping” Bill
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 14, 2011
Freshman Rep. Duey Stroebel, R-Cedarburg, has rolled out legislation to ban what he calls “double dipping” under the Wisconsin Retirement System.
The legislation would cancel state pension payouts for WRS participants who return to work at a half-time or greater level. Stroebel wrote to colleagues that the bill “enhances the solvency of the WRS and allows other residents a better chance to begin a new career in Wisconsin public service.”
Pension payouts made headlines last week after a UW-Green Bay administrator was rehired after he retired and began collecting pension payments this spring. Campus officials said the move was cost-effective and in the best interest of students.
The bill draft is currently circulating for co-sponsorship and will likely be formally introduced early in October.
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SWIB ‘REBUILDING’ AFTER A BAD 2008
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 7, 2011
From The Wheeler Report:
The State Investment Board, in a report to the Joint Finance Committee, has nearly returned to asset levels of 2007, when it had total assets of $87.803 billion. As of June 30, SWIB held assets of $82.486 billion. And, according to SWIB Executive Director Keith Bozarth, despite a roller coaster stock market the past few weeks, total assets for the year are about flat, meaning some investments went up and some went down, but overall they’ve evened out.
On December 31, 2007, SWIB had assets of $87.803 billion; on December 31, 2008, assets were down to $61.803 billion. And, that’s when the “rebuilding,” as Bozarth describes it, began. On December 31, 2009, assets had increased to $72,845 billion and on December 31, 2010, assets totaled $79,067 billion. Six months into 2011, total assets increased to $82,486 billion.
Bozarth said the 2009 market “supported” the growth and assets have “significantly recovered,” even though August was an “ugly” month. Bozarth said an important part of the asset building is the negative adjustment that can be made to retirement payouts based on the five-year rolling average for benefits under the CORE plan. He said when pensions go down, so does the total liability of the retirement system.
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REVENUES FOR 2010-11 ON TARGET
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | September 7, 2011
From The Wheeler Report:
Preliminary reports on General Fund tax collections for FY 2010-11 show collections of $12,911,864,000, a 6.4% increase from the prior year. The total was $12,836,000 below the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s May estimate. The difference between the actual collections and estimate is -0.10%.
Individual income and sales and use tax collections were higher than estimated by $10.6 million and $19.0 million respectively, but those totals were offset by lower than anticipated revenues in the corporate income/franchise tax ($27.1 million) and the cigarette tax ($51.2 million). Other General Fund taxes had smaller variances.
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