Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley released a recommended $1.4 billion budget in September, and the County Board of Supervisors will amend and finalize this budget in the coming weeks.
Last year, Milwaukee County’s budget forecasted future cuts to bus services, and a looming bill for major infrastructure improvements. This year, those projections are beginning to arrive.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum, a nonpartisan independent research organization, recently released a report on the budget proposal. Lake Effect’s Sam Woods sat down with the Forum’s immediate past president Rob Henken to discuss the report.
Here are three takeaways from the conversation:
MCTS cuts to services expected to eliminate routes, reduce bus frequency
Headlining the County Executive’s proposed budget for 2026 are cuts to Milwaukee County Transit Services, or MCTS.
The budget proposal includes eliminating six routes, modifying five other routes, and reduced bus frequency. Fares for riders will increase from $2 to $2.75.
Henken says that while transit officials say these changes are necessary, increased fares and reduced frequency could impact overall ridership.
“If you have to wait 20 minutes for the next bus as opposed to 12 or 15, that can make a difference in your commuting experience,” Henken says. “That might also dissuade people from using that bus route which could have a negative impact on ridership and passenger revenue.”
These cuts were not entirely unexpected. Earlier this year, MCTS announced a deficit of $10.9 million. MCTS expected to face major financial challenges in 2028, as detailed in a previous Wisconsin Policy Forum report on the subject. However, the agency will need to use federal pandemic relief funds previously earmarked for later years in the 2026 budget to account for higher-than-expected overtime, parts and paratransit costs.
Compounding rising costs is low revenue growth. Two of the agency's biggest revenue sources are state aid and fare collection. State aid has increased below the rate of inflation since 2023, and revenue from fare collection is lower than it was in 2019.
While MCTS’ financial situation is challenging, it is not the only transit system suffering ridership declines. The Wisconsin Policy Forum compared MCTS ridership to six similar Midwestern cities and found that most transit agencies have seen declines in ridership since 2010.
Henken noted that other cities have reduced service hours in recent years, like those proposed for MCTS in 2026. But Henken also noted that MCTS does not have a dedicated funding source as other transit systems nationwide usually do, meaning annual funding levels are more irregular year-to-year.
“Most other transit systems have a more diverse revenue mix” such as a dedicated sales tax or property tax for transit," Henken says. “Milwaukee County does not have that, their local revenues are subject to appropriation by their policymakers.”
Capital improvements backlog looms large
When WUWM spoke with the Wisconsin Policy Forum about last year’s budget, a growing capital backlog of $1 billion loomed large over future budgets. This represents money needed to pay for infrastructure maintenance to assets like the airport, courthouse and parks.
Henken notes that Milwaukee County has to continually balance paying for repairs to aging infrastructure with issuing too much debt at one time to pay for those improvements.
“In our estimation [...] the County has erred too much on the side of controlling its debt and not sufficient care of its capital assets,” Henken says. “This goes back 15 years over several County Executives and County Boards.”
In recent years, Milwaukee County has financed more than $100 million for buildings to house the Medical Examiner, Office of Emergency Management and Milwaukee Public Museum. According to the report, payments on those debts begin in 2026.
But one of the largest looming capital improvement projects regards the Milwaukee County Courthouse, which is estimated to cost around half of a billion dollars. The 2026 recommended budget includes $16 million to design improvements to the courthouse, but further repair costs are expected to arrive in future budgets.
“That day has arrived, they can’t put it off any longer,” Henken says.
Property tax increases are likely here to stay
A consequence of this capital improvement backlog is the need to raise money. While Milwaukee County decreased property tax rates by over 7% in 2024, this budget proposal seeks to increase tax rates by 4.1% next year.
Henken says Milwaukee County residents should expect to see property tax rates continue to increase in the coming years, in part to service needed infrastructure maintenance costs.
“This is not an act of irresponsibility, it’s an act of reality,” Henken says. “But looking into my crystal ball, I would surmise it is the minimum increase that we’re going to see over the next couple of years.”
Henken notes that this could pose a problem for affordability if other taxes increase, such as those used to fund other governments like the City of Milwaukee or institutions like Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, or Milwaukee Area Technical College.
“One of the things we’re suggesting is that we really need to have county leaders, city leaders, school district leaders, sewerage district and technical college leaders talking about this and comparing notes,” Henken says. “Because if everybody says ‘sorry we are going to have to go a little higher than normal,' that is certainly going to add up.”
How to get involved
The County Board of Supervisors is currently working on amendments to the County Executive's recommended budget and will likely finalize the 2025 budget in early November. Between now and then, supervisors are holding town halls to get resident input on what should be prioritized.
On Monday, Oct. 27, the County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the budget, giving speakers 2 minutes for testimony. A budget committee meeting is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 31 to amend the County Executive's budget, sending the amended budget to the full Board of Supervisors for adoption shortly thereafter.
