Such a deal ...

The first sentence of the Journal Sentinel's latest "expose" on MMSD:

“After more than a year of painstaking, high-stakes negotiations that included a former governor acting as informal mediator, the sewerage district rejected a low-cost deal that would have wiped clean longstanding charges over sewage dumping.”

About that low cost deal...

Statement issued by MMSD after adopting a 2% increase in the tax levy for next year:

“This budget does not include any funding for projects or penalties that may come out of a lawsuit filed against the District by Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager.

Just one of many items discussed during negotiations with the Attorney General’s office involves installing additional flow monitors within the sewer system, a project that would cost between $20 million to $30 million for the equipment and an additional $1 million a year for monitoring, information analysis, and maintenance.

If MMSD had to include that amount of spending in the budget passed today, the two-percent increase for 2006 would have more than doubled to 5 percent.”

"We’re spending a fortune to improve our system and there are no ‘low cost’ items on the Attorney General’s negotiating table,” said Commission Chair Jeannette Bell, West Allis Mayor.