The Milwaukee County Board's financial committee is preparing an alternative plan that would set up an appointed comptroller, and another county committee is drafting an official position in opposition of the legislation. But county executive Chris Abele has voiced his support for the proposal, and state legislators have said the counties' opposition is irrelevant, the newspaper reports.
According to the Journal-Sentinel, state Rep. Dale Kooyenga, one of the bill's primary sponsors, said an elected comptroller is designed to keep the county board "in check" and prevent "financial catastrophes" like a controversial 2000 county pension deal that is still being felt by the county today.
Under the bill, the county comptroller would be nonpartisan and elected in spring.
