It’s budget season in Milwaukee, both for the city and the county. At a town hall meeting this week, Milwaukee County’s budget office presented an estimated $19-million deficit for 2024. That got some residents worried about what this means for essential services they rely on. People also wanted to know more about the sheriff’s $7-million dollar plus deficit for overtime, how much the RNC cost taxpayers, and why the county isn’t tapping into the state’s $3-billion plus surplus.
17th District Milwaukee County Supervisor Steve Taylor, who represents Franklin and Oak Creak, previously brought forth a lot of these same issues. Taylor and County Budget Director Joe Lamers break down the county budget’s current state and the process to finalize the budget.
Funding sources: The budget has multiple sources of funding, Lamers explains, including property tax and sales tax. There are also departments collecting revenue directly to support their programs, as well as state and federal funds to offset the costs of programs that are mandated by state and federal government.
Determining a budget: Each department decides what their individual needs are, Lamers says. But, he adds, "We really don't have enough funding to provide for everything that [the departments are] looking for. Our property tax collections are limited by one, maybe 1.3% per year. So, that's how much our largest form of tax revenue grows by. There's not enough to cover all of the needs we have at the county."
Additional funding sources: Lamers points to "some benefits of Act 12, including an increase in shared revenue, not enough to cover all of the needs we have." The county also has a "rainy day fund" that's intended for unexpected revenue losses. "We've identified about $14,000,000 of savings options and then we're taking $5,000,000 out of our debt service reserve," says Lamers to address this year's budget deficit, which will avoid any major cuts to services and cultural institutions.
Where did the deficit come from: Taylor says three main factors have contributed to the current projected deficit for the 2024 budget. One is a large overtime budget issue with the sheriff's office and House of Corrections. Another is that there is not as much sales tax being collected as originally estimated. And finally, health care costs at the county are more than were originally estimated.
As for the new sales tax, Taylor says, "We're just not generating enough of what we projected. So when you build a budget based on projections and the numbers don't fall in line, then you have a deficit."
"It's not going to be easy [in coming years]," says Taylor. "You're going to be looking at cuts in departments, you're going to be looking at projects that you want to add...that's not going to happen. There's a difference between wants and need and I think decisions are gonna be made that focus on the needs, not the wants."
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