County rejects increase in wheel tax

Board adopts budget but leaves off $30 hike; Abele says he’ll return it unsigned

The Milwaukee County Board on Monday rejected a $30 increase in the wheel tax requested by County Executive Chris Abele.

The board’s action came in its approval of a $1.15 billion budget for 2018. Total spending increased $42.6 million from this year.

The budget was adopted on a 15-3 vote. Supervisors Deanna Alexander, John Weishan Jr. and Dan Sebring voted against the final spending plan.

Abele quickly said he would return the budget to the board unsigned, citing cuts to services and programs necessitated by the board’s action on his wheel tax hike recommendation.

“Clearly, supervisors believe that $15 million in deep cuts to transit, public safety, parks and social services is what is best for the future of Milwaukee County,” Abele said.

“I will not endorse the County Board’s service cuts and am therefore returning the budget to the board unsigned,” Abele said.

The board’s budget “will only make for more difficult budgets in the future and takes the first step towards a government that provides fewer services for residents,” he said.

The budget sets a property tax levy for 2018 of $292.8 million, or $1.75 million more than the 2017 levy, that complies with a state-mandated limit.

A property tax rate of $5.04 per

$1,000 of equalized valuation, down 4 cents from this year, is needed to generate the 2018 county levy. Most homeowners will not pay more property taxes to the county, officials said.

The board achieved a balanced budget by trimming $16 million in spending to make up for the $14.7 million in revenue that the Abele administration forecast to be generated from the higher vehicle registration fee.

Spending cuts hit services, major road reconstruction projects, scheduled purchases of buses and county fleet vehicles.

The budget approved by the board also asks department heads to trim expenses by an additional 0.75%. The across-the-board cuts would reduce department spending by $3.7 million.

“Departments have to make decisions, in all areas, what they have to spend less on,” Supervisor James Schmitt said. “We can’t have everything we want.”

The Milwaukee County Transit System would be hit hardest by the across-the-board spending cuts and will be required to slice $882,000 out of its budget.

Before action on the final budget, the board approved an amendment that enables departments to avoid the 0.75% general cuts by studying opportunities to streamline, consolidate or eliminate programs, or “reduce duplication and the cost of administrative expenditures within county government.”

Abele’s recommended $60 vehicle registration fee, up $30 from this year, was at the center of Monday’s debate on the 2018 budget.

“We were asked to ignore the will of the voters this past April,” Supervisor Steve Taylor said Monday.

An advisory referendum on the spring ballot for a total $60 vehicle registration fee was rejected by 72% of voters.

The county’s $30 fee is in addition to the state’s $75 fee. City of Milwaukee vehicle owners pay a separate $20 fee. Those city residents already pay a total of $125 in registration fees.

Supervisor Sequanna Taylor of Milwaukee said she opposed a $30 increase in the county wheel tax. City vehicle owners would have faced a total $155 registration fee in 2018 under Abele’s budget plan.

“I have a lot of constituents in my district who tell me they cannot afford it,” Taylor said.

Apart from the vehicle registration fee, Abele’s budget recommended several other fee increases to provide $4.7 million in additional revenue for 2018.

The package includes new parking fees at county parks, transit fare increases for regular users, and a $1.25 increase per person for visitors to the Milwaukee County Zoo.

Abele proposed a special work group to study a pay-to-park program in parks that could generate $1.6 million in new revenue next year.

Supervisors included the estimated revenue in the 2018 budget along with a requirement that the work group evaluate possible increases in parking fees paid by businesses operating in county parks.

The board also approved charging noncounty residents $1 more per person for admission to the Mitchell Park Domes. The new fee is expected to bring in $52,500 in revenue.

The 2018 budget includes spending $2.1 million on a 1% pay raise at mid-year for county employees.