Wisconsin Treasurer Fulfills Campaign Pledge by Laying Off Staff
Adam Tobias /
MADISON, Wis.—Newly elected state Treasurer Matt Adamczyk ran on a campaign pledge of cutting 80 percent from a $545,000 annual budget. A few weeks into his first term, he has, through layoffs, already gotten rid of his two-member staff.
Adamczyk also declined to fill an empty deputy treasurer position that was paying close to $107,000 a year in salary and benefits.
“I’m a big believer that in government it’s not our job just to give people jobs,” Adamczyk said.
The state has transferred most of the treasurer’s duties to other government agencies over the past several years, so Adamcyzk said he sees no need for the workers.
The only constitutional responsibility of the state treasurer is to sit on the Board of Commissioners of Public Land. The time commitment for serving on that panel, which provides funding to libraries and school districts, is usually two 15-minute phone calls per month, Adamczyk said.
He says he doesn’t think he’ll have a problem performing other tasks, such as promoting the state’s unclaimed property program and answering the phone.
“We don’t really get calls,” Adamczyk said. “The calls that we do receive, typically it’s the wrong number.”
“I’m a big believer that in government it’s not our job just to give people jobs.”
Adamczyk said he’s also looking to return 25 percent of his $68,000 salary and partner with the Department of Motor Vehicles to mail information on the unclaimed property program with license plate renewal letters.
Adamczyk’s ultimately wants to eliminate the Office of the State Treasurer, and he has at least two Republican lawmakers in his corner.
Sen. Richard Gudex, R-Fond du Lac, and state Rep. Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh, have begun circulating a bill for co-sponsorship that would let voters decide, through a binding referendum, whether to abolish the agency.
But history is not on Adamczyk’s side.
His predecessor, Kurt Schuller, campaigned on the same promise but was unable to get the Legislature to pass a resolution, drafted in 2011, to dissolve the department. A similar bill also failed to pass the Senate in the previous legislative session.
Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin (Photo: Roj Wong/Newscom)
Adamczyk predicts taxpayers will see similar savings if the Legislature approves proposals Gov. Scott Walker made in his State of the State Address calling for the merger of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. with the state Housing and Economic Development Authority, and the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions with the state Department of Safety and Professional Services.
Laurel Patrick, press secretary for the governor, said Walker will outline other possible agency consolidations when he introduces his budget plan Feb. 3.
“I believe that government has grown too big and too intrusive in our lives and we must rein it in, but the government that is left must work. … We should demand a government that is more effective, more efficient and more accountable to the public,” Walker said recently.