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Money by Eliminating the Intervenors?  |
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Money by Eliminating the Intervenors? |
 For
less than a nickel per person per year, citizens of Wisconsin
had an entire office with two full-time attorneys, 1.5 clerical staff and
8 non-paid legal interns to represent their public rights in the environment
and to respond to their calls. The annual "saving" from eliminating
the office amounted to only $232,000, or .00001166% (one one thousandth
of one percent) of the $15.5 billion budget. The Intervenor Office
was always streamlined --- one of few agencies which grew little (from
one attorney to two) over a 27 year period.
Compare the Public Intervenor Office annual budget with the $1.7 billion budget of the Dept. of Transportation (DOT), $429 million budget of the Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR), $59.7 million budget of the Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), and $197 million budget for the Commerce Dept. --- four state agencies the Public Intervenors were charged with watchdogging. |