Jay Weber Show transcript 9-20-23 7:10am
It has been 32 years or so since I moved from Madison to Milwaukee and started covering and following local issues around here-
I know it’s’ been over 30 years-but when I started my career here in Milwaukee-the city of Milwaukee was operating on a budget that hadn’t even hit a billion dollars.
I forget what it was-but it wasn’t a billion...to run a city that was roughly the same size, by the way.
One of the things about Milwaukee is that it hasn’t really grown in population all that much-in decades.
The suburbs and surrounding counties sure have, but the population of the city has hung around half a million people for decades.
In fact- the real population ‘hey day’ for Milwaukee was back in the 50s and 60s, when about 700-thousand people lived in the city. Then we saw a population erosion as industry dried up and jobs were lost...and since the mid-1980s or so- Milwaukee’s population really hasn’t moved that much. It has slowly eroded at times...over the last 40 years...and slowly added in other years...but... For the time that I’ve been working here in se Wisconsin- the city of Milwaukee’s population has been about 500 to 550-thousand people. That’s it. Again-excluding the suburbs-because we are talking about -just-the city budget here.
And when I started working here back in 1991 the city budget hadn’t even hit a billion dollars. Now- yesterday- in 2023- mayor Cavalier Johnson introduced a nearly two-billion-dollar budget plan.
Wow. And for a city that hasn’t seen any population growth, really, for all of that time.
That’s remarkable.
And I know inflation means today’s dollars and today’s expenses cost more than they did 30 years ago. I’m not a dope. But- I do find this an ‘inflated budget’ –
A budget that has doubled- as the city’s population has remained static.
And to listen to city leaders- oh, hey, we can’t get by on the budget that we do have, here. We always need more funding. Always more funding. Always need more.
And so-for the first time in years- a Milwaukee mayor is proposing a budget that isn’t cutting city services, and is adding a few policemen, etc...
And the reason is: because republican lawmakers in Madison finally agreed to a different ‘shared revenue’ deal for Milwaukee and other governments...and allowed city leaders to implement up to a two-cent city sales tax that they’ve been begging for and whining about for years.
And so-it’s because of that that Cavalier Johnson could finally announce a ‘growth’ budget yesterday-and in doing so? Milwaukee citizens?
In doing so?-even with the two percent sales tax you’re going to be paying now- he’s still going to increase your property taxes by two percent. And he’s still going to increase every other fee you pay by two percent, too. The garbage, snow and ice, storm water and sewer and street lighting fees will all increase by two percent.
Yeah.
You didn’t think these left-wing Milwaukee leaders were going to forego other tax increases now, did you?
No-
Chevy Johnson wants every single fee....and the city tax levy raised by two percent which would mean another 50 dollars a year on a home that’s worth 145-thousand dollars...
And come on: I know a lot of homes in the city aren’t in great neighborhoods and aren’t worth all that much-but we are really going to use 145-thousand dollars as the price of a median home in the city of Milwaukee?
Redfin and Zillow put the median price for a home in the city at 200-thousand dollars and many of them are way above that-in terms of value.
So- the city leaders and the j/s are really going to use a price that low to calculate the new property tax hike?
Oh-it’s only 50 bucks. Yeah-but on a 145-thousand-dollar home. You are lowballing figures here, to try to make it look like a smaller levy increase than it is.
And that comes-on top of-the new two percent jump on the sales tax you are going to be paying on every product, service, and restaurant bill that you pay for.
Still-Chevy Johnson got a chance to talk about a positive, ‘growth’ sort of budget this year.
"I am not closing branch libraries. I am not imposing furlough days or hiring freezes on our employees. I am not closing firehouses. I'm not cutting police sworn strength. I am not offering a budget that continues the spiral of declining services and growing desperation."
Oh, she and other councilmen will have this budget screwed up again within two years.
Guaranteed.
Marina talks about fiscal solvency-but that’s’ just a term she learned while sitting on the committee. She’s a socialist who has no idea how to reign in govt spending-and no interest in doing it.
But they’re going to pretend for a few weeks, I suppose.
Also, thanks to the republican’s shared revenue stipulations-this is the first time in a long time that the city of Milwaukee will be adding police officers.
Its’ a requirement of Act 12, but Chevy played it off yesterday as if it was his idea.
"It feels very, very good on the front end of a budget process, for potentially the first time in my career, to hear about additions to the frontline staff for the Milwaukee Fire Department"
That’s all-positive news-
And then there’s a blurb in here about how Johnson wants to waste a bunch of money on bike lanes...
Proving that there’s always some amount of excessive and unnecessary spending in a liberal budget.
And okay-it’s finally a budget that doesn’t include cuts-but even with a chunk of new state money as additional revenue sharing-and even with a two-cent sales tax kicking in on January-first-
Even with that flood of new cash flow- mayor Johnson is feeling the need to increase taxes and fees across the board-in all other areas.
You get the govt you vote for, Milwaukeeans, and at this time next year, these same lawmakers will be crying poor and making excuses as they raise your taxes-again.
And any talk of new revenue from the state or the new sales tax will be surrounded by moaning and whining that it’s still not enough.
Oh-and republicans will be being blamed because they held their convention here. They’ll find some way to work that in, too.
story and photo credit: Fox 6 New/Milwaukee