5 takeaways from the mayor’s proposed budget

1. The Milwaukee Police Department will get a 7% increase. The mayor’s budget proposes a $20 million increase from 2022. If the budget is approved, the police would receive $300,860,638. While the mayor deceptively touts this budget as a 1% cut to MPD’s budget, it is actually a 7% increase. The mayor talked about how crime, including robbery and aggravated assault, is down, but still there is an increase in police spending. He fails to mention funding preventive measures like expanding opportunities for young people, or ensuring families have access to affordable, quality housing.

2. Police pensions are bankrupting Milwaukee. When we talk about the cost of the police, we must talk about the pension cost.  This budget has $100 million going to the pension fund. The mayor said, “Our pension costs are driven, largely, by the benefits earned by police officers and firefighters.” In our pension report from 2021, we note that Act 10 allowed police and fire to collectively bargain while taking that right away from other public sector workers. According to a Wisconsin Policy Forum Report, “The city’s 2,325 active police and firefighters accounted for 80.2% of the cost of the city’s share of the overall pension contribution even though they make up only 42.8% of the city’s workforce.” It is safe to assume that police are the majority of that fund since they account for over 1,650 of those positions.

3. Police haven’t been impacted by shrinking government like other departments. Since 2000, the City of Milwaukee has eliminated over 1,023 positions, or 12.4% of its workforce. However, the police department has a 5% decrease. That means other departments have had to take deeper cuts. For example, the Department of Public Works has shrunk from 1,739 positions in 2000 to 1,453 in 2022, a 16.4% decrease or reduction of 286 positions. This equates to a reduction of services like pothole repair, snow plowing, and trash removal.

4. Police could eat the cuts to the libraries. The mayor's budget calls for the reduction of services at Milwaukee Public Libraries. Specifically, four Public libraries would see a reduction in services and programming, including two on the north side and two on the south side. Libraries offer so many services like literacy support, internet access for people searching for jobs, and spaces for communities to gather. These cuts to neighborhood libraries that would save a couple million dollars could be avoided by cutting less than 1% from the MIlwaukee Police Department.

5. Four Aldermanic Districts won’t have representation during this budget cycle. Districts  1, 2, 3, and 9 will all be without representation on the Common Council during the 2023 budget allocations. That means over 25% of Milwaukee will have no voice in the city budget–particularly Black residents who are the majority in Districts 1, 2, and 9. This is why we are advocating for participatory budgeting, so residents can have decision-making power over public funds. Check out this video on how participatory budgeting works, and sign our petition demanding participatory budgeting.

Join us at the in person Joint Public Budget Hearing on Oct 3 at City Hall to testify against this status quo budget.Register here.

Those who do not want to speak but want to provide written comments are encouraged to use the City’s eComment system by accessing this agenda at http://milwaukee.legistar.com/calendar.

Devin Anderson is the Membership and Coalition Manager for the African American Roundtable.