County budget handling may be illegal

Shawano County officials withheld the county’s 2017 budget proposal from public scrutiny earlier this week — only to reverse themselves one day later — in what an open-government advocate described as showing “contempt” for the law and the public’s right-to-know.

County Administrative Coordinator Brent Miller on Wednesday denied The Shawano Leader access to the budget, copies of which were piled high in plain view inside the county courthouse just a few feet from where Miller was standing.

Miller said the newspaper would have to file a written request to see the county’s 2017 spending proposal, and that he would take up to 10 days to respond to the request.

County Corporation Counsel Tony Kordus supported the administrator’s action in refusing the newspaper access to the budget. Informed that copies of the budget proposal were sitting readily available a few feet away, Kordus said: “So what?”

With the Shawano County Finance Committee scheduled to consider the budget on Friday, the county’s decision to deny public access meant that the committee could take action on the taxpayer-funded spending plan for 2017 without the public knowing what was proposed.

The county budget for 2016 included $51 million in public spending and more than $15 million in property taxes.

Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said a county budget proposal is a public document that taxpayers and others in Shawano County have a right to see before their elected representatives vote on it. Lueders said it appeared to him that Miller and Kordus had “clearly and brazenly” violated the state’s open records law.

“It shows contempt for the law and, frankly, contempt for the public,” Lueders said. “I think the citizens of Shawano County should be outraged.”

The open records law states that government agencies such as Shawano County must permit access to public records “at all times” during regular office hours. The law also states that county officials must respond to a request for access to public records “as soon as practicable and without delay.”

Penalties for violating the open records law include civil fines of up to $1,000.

After The Shawano Leader contacted members of the County Board and informed Miller and Kordus that the newspaper was preparing a report on their actions, the county reversed course on Thursday and provided access to the budget.

The 315-page document indicates that county officials are considering a plan for 2017 that would increase property taxes by more than $100,000 while decreasing spending slightly overall.

The finance committee is scheduled to consider the budget at 8:15 a.m. Friday and forward a recommendation for full County Board consideration later this month.

County staff and committee members have spent several weeks preparing the budget and discussing changes. County records indicate that the finance committee on Sept. 19 approved a preliminary draft of the budget — a copy of which The Shawano Leader also has requested.

To inform taxpayers and to allow for timely public debate, the newspaper made a written request on Monday for access to the budget prepared for Friday’s meeting. Miller refused, saying that the document was still at a print shop where copies were being prepared. The newspaper requested access to whatever document was sent to the printer; Miller again refused.

On Wednesday, multiple copies of the budget were back from the printer and were stacked up inside Miller’s office at the courthouse. Miller then said he would not allow the newspaper to review the budget until after Friday’s meeting of the finance committee. He said such protocol was a longstanding practice in the county.

Insisting that the budget was not a public record under state law until it is distributed to the committee, he added: “I’ve already checked with legal on that.”

The state’s open records law defines a public record as “any material on which written, drawn, printed, spoken, visual, or electromagnetic information or electronically generated or stored data is recorded or preserved, regardless of physical form or characteristics, that has been created or is being kept by an authority.”

Lueders, whose council is a private advocacy group for open government in Wisconsin, said it sounded like Shawano County officials were creating needless delays and withholding a public record that should have been available for public scrutiny upon request.

“There is nothing in the law that allows government officials to withhold a completed document until a public body has had a chance to talk it over,” he said.

A member of Miller’s staff on Thursday said he was reversing course and providing access to the budget after consulting with County Board members and being “authorized” by them to disclose the budget.

County Board members offered differing viewpoints on the matter.

Supervisor Robert Krause, a member of the finance committee, said he agreed with Miller’s initial decision to withhold the budget from the public until it had been reviewed by the committee. Krause, too, said that was a longstanding practice in the county.

“We don’t like to put stuff out to the public until the supervisors get it,” Krause said.

Supervisor Deb Noffke, also on the finance committee, said she disagreed with county staff withholding the budget from public access and scrutiny.

“It’s all public record,” she said. “If somebody asks for something, give it to them.”