The impact of Wisconsin’s Act 10 on municipal management in smaller municipalities: Views from local elected officials

Abstract

This article examines elected officials’ opinions on Wisconsin’s controversial 2011 collective bargaining reform. Survey results from elected officials serving on city councils and village boards with less than 10,000 residents demonstrate that Act 10 is still viewed through a partisan lens, making its overall impact on municipal governance unsettled. We also find that officials who first came to office prior to Act 10 generally think the law has had a positive fiscal impact. Overall, the authors conclude that Act 10 cannot yet be viewed as a successful governance reform because it is still viewed by local policymakers through a narrow fiscal and partisan lens.