Wisconsin County Seeks to Outsource Child Support

A Wisconsin county is considering privatizing its child-support program, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper this week.

Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas said the proposal is designed to trim the size of government and could save about $30,000 a year. County staffers now handle up to 2,000 calls a month, or about 100 a day.

Vrakas said his 2008 county budget proposal will include a plan for hiring an outside contractor to handle all incoming calls from parents, employers and other program users.

Vrakas said Waukesha County would become the first county in Wisconsin to outsource its child-support program. He is scheduled to present his budget to the county board next Tuesday. Waukesha’s current budget is $254 million.

The move does not affect the 30-plus county staffers who manage child-support collection cases for about 9,200 custodial parents countywide.

The county outsourced its telephone call center this summer to Affiliated Computer Services Inc., the same firm that handles the state’s child-support calls. That program has drawn high marks, and an Affiliated spokesperson told the newspaper the company could promote it to other Wisconsin counties.