Coalition of Milwaukee Organizations Working to Get Real Decision-Making Power to Milwaukee Residents Through Participatory Budgeting

MILWAUKEE—Today, the African American Roundtable (AART) and its partners gathered to hold city officials accountable for how American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding is spent. 

The City of Milwaukee has received the second half of ARPA funding ($197 million, which brings the total to approximately $400 million), yet Milwaukee residents are scarcely seeing the impact of funding, with the city spending just $4.3 million over the past six months. ARPA funding must be spent over the course of the next four years, or it must be returned to the federal government. 

The city has indicated that it intends to use ARPA funds to cover pension shortfalls within the budget. Municipalities are specifically forbidden from making pension contributions using ARPA funding, however Milwaukee plans to employ an accounting trick to skirt this restriction. By declaring the funds used for revenue loss, the city can then use ARPA funds for ongoing city operations and reallocate other funds to offset the pension contribution. 

This decision will rob Milwaukee’s communities of the opportunity to make generational investments and will deprive people of much-needed improvement to local infrastructure. Milwaukee has a structural budget issue that is going to lead to further decline in quality of life services for its residents. The American Rescue Plan Act, participatory budgeting and defunding the police are all strategies that provide Milwaukee an opportunity to avoid austerity budgets starting in 2023.

"Participatory budgeting would radically improve our communities," said Markasa Tucker-Harris, AART's Executive Director. "This democratic process would give residents power over how resources are allocated to support programs, projects and ideas to address poverty and violence. For the third year in a row, the African American Roundtable has renewed its commitment to fight for and work towards what Milwaukee can be."

Last year nine Common Council alderpersons responded to the residents' calls for participatory budgeting by creating a resolution directing the Department of Administration Budget and Management Division to divide ARPA funds among alderman districts for distribution based on the principles of participatory budgeting. However, this has been a fruitless endeavor, as no participatory budgeting process has been implemented. 

AART believes participatory budgeting in Milwaukee is attainable and will help strengthen our democratic processes and give all of Milwaukee’s residents the opportunity to thrive and live in their power and dignity.