Zoo admission, wheel tax hikes in 2018 county budget

Milwaukee County residents will find dollar figures of all sizes that affect their daily lives inside County Executive Chris Abele’s recommended $1.16 billion county budget for 2018.

Visitors to the 125-year-old Milwaukee County Zoo will be asked to pay $1.25 more per person next year, the first admission fee increase there in six years.

In return for the higher fee, they will see the completion in 2018 of the Adventure Africa space as well as a new west-side entrance with an otter exhibit, Abele said Thursday. He released the budget at a Thursday news conference at Mitchell International Airport.

The 2018 property tax rate of $5.05 per $1,000 of equalized valuation is down a little more than 2 cents from this year’s rate. The effect of that rate is that most homeowners will not pay more property taxes to the county than they did for this year’s budget.

That tax rate, however, will generate a $294 million levy in revenue — up $2.9 million from 2017 — to help pay for next year’s expenses. The increase comes from the net value of new construction in the county.

The levy could have been $2.6 million larger under the statemandated property tax cap but county budget planners chose not to use all of the possible exemptions available to them, Budget Director Steve Kreklow said.

Property tax bills would have increased if they had done that, he said.

There is a 1% figure in the budget that describes the pay raise to be given to county employees at midyear 2018. Cost is estimated at $1.1 million.

The most controversial figure in the budget is $60. That is Abele’s recommended county vehicle registration fee, or wheel tax, and it is double the current $30 fee.

County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb Sr. has made it clear that he will oppose the higher fee when the board begins its review of the budget next week. Abele will present the budget to the board on Monday at the Courthouse.

“County Executive Abele continues to ignore the will of the voters, who opposed his $60 wheel tax by a landslide 72% margin in April, “Lipscomb said Thursday.

But the wheel tax is the only major revenue source the county can increase on its own, according to Abele. The $60 fee, if approved, would generate around $30 million for the county in 2018.

Increasing the sales tax would require approval by the state Legislature, he said. The county sales tax will generate $75.7 million in 2018, up $1.7 million, or 1.68%.

On Thursday at Mitchell, Abele highlighted a $25 million figure in his budget. That is the amount set aside next year to demolish the unused Concourse E at the airport’s main terminal and begin construction of a new international terminal in its place.

The funding in 2018 will come from issuing revenue bonds and from airport user fees, Abele said.

When completed in 2019, the project will cost about $50 million. No property tax dollars are spent on airport construction projects or daily operations.

The existing international building at Mitchell is separate from the main terminal and provides only one gate.

The executive’s recommended budget includes an additional $1 million investment in the Housing Division’s ongoing program to end chronic homelessness.

“In just two short years, the Housing First initiative has placed more than 200 chronically homeless individuals in permanent housing and reduced the overall rate of homelessness in the county by more than 40 percent,” Abele said.