Long story short, the City of Milwaukee has a spending problem AND a revenue problem.
The city's comptroller--who knows which side his bread is buttered on--blames the State (specifically, the Republican legislature) for the City's spending and revenue problems. Note that he "forgets" that Tony Evers signed the deal, but that's politics.
... His first report, released Wednesday, forecasts a $52.5 million structural deficit for 2027. By 2031, his office projects that number nearly doubles to $104.5 million, which represents 5 percent of the current budget....
Not good.
...Part of the reason Christianson said that's too big a gap to solve with just budget cuts stems from state law. The same legislation that allowed the city to impose its 2 percent sales tax also mandated hiring more police officers and firefighters.
"The two largest departments – we're not able to... we have no ability to shrink. They're in fact going to grow," Christianson said....
The Republicans have a fetish about ......ahhhh.....'satisfying'...........the police union. The firemen's union is a hard-left bunch, so we have no idea why Vos & Co. included them here.
...While the city can increase property taxes, the amount remains limited by state law, and collecting more sales tax requires state approval. ...
So the City must spend on police & fire, and "may not" raise revenue, all due to State laws passed by the meanie-mean Republicans.
OK. Here's our solution:
The next Legislature and Governor should remove all revenue and spending mandates for the City. Let the City of Milwaukee solve its own problems by raising taxes and/or cutting police and fire services. The City's own Controller says those are the problems--so let the City fix them.
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