Shel Lubar's Partial Plan

Nothing in Shel Lubar's proposal is new--but there are some big holes here.

Milwaukee County government should be junked in favor of a consolidated city-county hybrid system that has worked well in other parts of the U.S., business leader and philanthropist Sheldon Lubar said today.

County government has become archaic and inefficient, and it duplicates duties carried out by the state and municipalities, Lubar said in a speech at the Rotary Club of Milwaukee.

Here's the part which is.....interesting.

Parks could revert to municipalities or a regional parks district, if voters want that, he said. Transit, airports and cultural institutions could be turned over to regional authorities.

"Authorities" and "districts" are generally tax-takers and most often are not accountable to tax-payers. See e.g., MMSD, MATC, and SEWRPC for examples.

All would be overseen by a fiscal accountability board. He said he would leave details of how that would work and whether board members would be elected or appointed to future study of the idea

I'm not opposed to this; there certainly are more efficient ways to spend money than on County-level overlays. At the same time, the vague "district/authority" language is something that Lubar shoulda known would create trouble--no matter if Jesus or Moses proposed it.