MILWAUKEE COUNTY — Understaffed and overcapacity. That's the current situation inside Milwaukee County's jail. Now, the Sheriff is asking for more money to remedy the issues.
Right now, the jail has 154 corrections officers. With its current capacity, it should have 247 COs. That's part of why Sheriff Denita Ball said she's asking for a $12 million over the 2024 County Executive's tax levy target.
Ball is calling for change, and said more money can help with that. The target was around $44 million for the sheriff's department, and they asked for a $56 million tax levy.
Ball said the additional money would add 27 sheriff's deputies and seven more leadership positions to offset understaffing.
In addition, the money would provide an increase in pay for some of those positions, an increase in standby and hospital watch pay, and a more than $6.00 raise for all correctional staff.
"Critical pay increase for our correctional staff in order to provide a competitive wage, which became necessary when the state of Wisconsin passed a $33.00/hr starting pay for correctional staff," Ball explained.
On Wednesday, every county department proposed its 2024 budget requests. Several departments had very few changes for requests.
The parks department is asking for about $2 million more than its expenditures in 2023. The additional money, the department said, would go to personnel costs, with a reduction of seasonal funding to fund full-time positions. The department also said this money could add 15 full-time positions to provide promotional opportunities and career growth.
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