Despite Gov. Scott Walker’s commitment to providing tools for cities and municipalities to offset cuts to state-funded programs proposed in the biennium budget, many local governments are finding they are not enough.

The savings from local workers’ increased contributions to health care and pensions would cover about 61 percent of the $136 million in state funding cuts to five major programs in 2012, including transportation aid, recycling and shared revenue, according to a report released Wednesday by the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.

Mayors across Wisconsin said they were concerned with the imbalances, which some said affect certain cities more than others.

“We are being penalized for being one of the more successful cities in the state,” said De Pere Mayor Michael Walsh.

Walsh said local savings contained in the governor’s budget bill would cover only 17 percent of De Pere’s funding cuts. De Pere, located just outside of Green Bay, is considering any and all options to cover its budget deficits, including layoffs and furloughs, Walsh said.

De Pere settled its collective bargaining contracts before Walker’s budget proposal. The pension contribution rate negotiated is lower than what Walker’s bill proposes, but the bargaining agreement supersedes the budget, Walsh said, meaning De Pere would not see the savings resulting from a higher rate.

He added for over ten years, city employees have been paying 15 percent of their health insurance premiums. Walker’s proposed increase to 12.6 percent would not make a difference, he said.

Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna said local governments that have been diligently balancing their budgets for years should have a dialogue with many of the new legislators at the Capitol.

“There is a disconnect in how government is funded in Wisconsin,” Hanna said. “We are simply trying to point out the consequences of the way the budget has been presented.”

In Appleton, Walker’s proposed 5.8 percent pension payment from public employees would save the city just less than $800,000 in 2012, but they are losing almost $1.9 million in funding, the report said.

Walker spokesperson Cullen Werwie said the report did not take enough of a comprehensive look at the numbers involved.

“The League’s tabulation does not take into account a number of other tools that are available,” Werwie said in an email to The Badger Herald.

The money saved from eliminating local mandates, such as the storm water mandate that saves local municipalities at least $421.7 million, was excluded from the calculations, Werwie said.

While the storm water mandate relief will indeed provide savings, Hanna said those savings will not help the cuts being made to Appleton’s general shared revenue fund.

Where the state previously borrowed from some funds, such as transportation, and transferred it to the general fund to balance the state budget, local governments are unable to allocate their savings in the same manner, Hanna said.

The issue is not that Walker has presented inadequate solutions to deal with funding cuts, but those tools applied at the local level do not work as they were intended, he added.

“Mayors all over the state want to be part of the solution,” Hanna said.