Five Wisconsin county executives voiced their concerns over two bills affecting the juvenile justice system in an open letter Thursday to the state Senate and the state Assembly.
The bills reverse state policy to return a certain class of 17-year-old offenders to the juvenile justice system as opposed to keeping them in the adult correctional system.
The opposing counties consist of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, Brown and Outagamie. The executives voiced concern around the lack of funding for the bill.
“Counties cannot bear the brunt of this legislation without a true, sufficient, and secure funding stream that pays the bill,” the executives said in a statement.
The executives said in the statement local governments would have to close other essential services in order to fund the effort mandated by the bill.
The executives also said they had responsibility as fiscal stewards to “provide mandate relief that maximizes efficiency and utilizes the best practices that are known to achieve better outcomes and savings,” according to the letter.
