The attitude of County Cockroach Cultivator Scott Walker and County Board Chairman Lee Holloway toward a bill that would return 17-year-old offenders to the tender mercies of juvenile court is highly disturbing.

But then, so is the screw job the state, through that same bill, might visit upon counties.

State Rep. Fred Kessler introduced the bill this week, and Walker and Holloway were all over it on fiscal grounds.

County Executive Scott Walker and County Board Chairman Lee Holloway are
reiterating their opposition to a bill proposed in the State Legislature to return 17 year-old offenders to the jurisdiction of juvenile court. If enacted, this change could cost Milwaukee County at least $24 million.

“Counties cannot afford any more unfunded mandates from the state,” said Walker. “This mandate could cost local taxpayers more than $24 million each year. The new revenue streams they propose will not cover the cost, and our 2010 Milwaukee County budget does not have a provision to handle the additional costs associated with this legislation.”

“It’s time for the state to get serious about juvenile justice and fund any reforms to our current system. The State of Wisconsin should be financially responsible for any changes to current correctional policy, because our property tax payers already bear too much of a burden for under-funded state mandates. They simply can’t afford a $24-30 million increase in costs,” Chairman Holloway said.

There is something simply grotesque about arguing that children should be kept in adult prisons because counties can’t afford a better alternative. It’s an argument that should not have been made.

Walker and Holloway are totally right, though, in their contention that the potential $24 million cost shift to the county is unacceptable and the state, if it is going to move 17-year-olds from adult court to juvenile court, needs to pick up some of that cost.

It doesn’t compute that Kessler is seeking to return 17-year-olds to juvenile court, (which would reverse the 1996 law that sent them to adult court) to save the state some money.He’s just not that kind of guy. It does compute, though, that some of his legislative colleagues would do the math and come to the happy realization that they could make the state’s horrid budget situation just a bit better by making the county’s really, really horrid budget situation even worse.

The existing law needs to be changed. Counties need to be treated fairly when it is.