The Public Policy Forum's new public opinion survey marks the first comprehensive measure of public opinion on county government since the eruption of the pension scandal in 2002 and the county executive's widely publicized fiscal "reality" tour in 2006. The survey also comes on the heels of a call by a prominent civic leader for elimination of county government. Overall, the survey reveals that citizens have a favorable view of Milwaukee County and services provided by Milwaukee County government. Nevertheless, a large majority of the survey respondents see a need for some restructuring of county government. African-American as well as low-income respondents are less positive about the county and a higher proportion of them support restructuring. Respondents are evenly split in support of changes in governance regarding certain county functions. Related materials: Appendix - Complete Survey Results
Worldwide there is increased attention to issues associated with climate change. While policy makers at various levels grapple with the broad policy issues associated with mitigating climate change, a portion of consumers and businesses are taking action. Some businesses are making commitments to various green practices and some consumers are comparing businesses based on these practices. Focus on Energy, the statewide energy efficiency and renewable energy initiative in Wisconsin, wanted to understand the views and actions of Wisconsin businesses with respect to climate change. This is a report on a new survey of the perspectives of one key group: Wisconsin's corporate leadership. The six-page survey was mailed to 5,000 senior executives of businesses throughout Wisconsin and was completed and returned in spring 2008 by 340 of them, the vast majority presidents and chief executive officers.
This year's increase in the gross tax rate marked the first such increase in southeastern Wisconsin since at least 2001. The increase was small ($0.03), but may portend coming changes in property tax trends.
Data from 2001 and later indicate that as the basic cost of running government has increased, so has the gross levy amount. This increasing levy has been cushioned by increasing property values, which have allowed municipal governments to decrease the tax rate applied to property owners each year.
This year, that trend was interrupted. While the levy amount continued its upward trend (increasing 6.1% this year), gross tax rates did not continue their decline. Whether this year's $0.03 increase in gross tax rates is the beginning of a new trend or an anomaly is the key question.
A survey of 414 child care providers in southeastern Wisconsin reveals that cost as well as low wages and lack of benefits for workers can constrain providers from pursuing improvements to child-care quality.
High-quality early childhood care and education has been found to produce short- and long-term educational, cognitive, and social benefits for children. Consequently, we sought to measure whether our region's child care providers have the capacity to supply that type of beneficial care and we wanted to learn from providers where barriers to quality exist.
We surveyed licensed and/or certified providers in the seven-county region, about half of whom are family (homebased) child care providers and half are center-based (group) providers or preschools. Of our survey respondents, 13% have at least three of five structural factors often associated with highest quality care. In addition, over three-quarters of our sample is neither accredited nor seeking accreditation.
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