Brookfield and Madison mayors want state to boost shared revenue for cities
The cities of Madison and Brookfield don’t have a lot in common.
Even so, their mayors are joining together to call on the state to pump more money back into municipalities.
It’s an issue Brookfield Mayor Steve Ponto cares deeply about.
“It’s very important, I think, to have cities that are an attractive place to be,” Ponto said.
“But I’m afraid that some municipalities in Wisconsin are going to be in a period of decline, and I think that’s bad for the state, ultimately,” Ponto added.
Ponto isn’t necessarily worried about his own city in the short term.
Brookfield has had lots of recent development. The tax base is large.
“But I see problems on the horizon,” Ponto said. In 2003, the City of Brookfield received just over $1 million in shared revenue from the state. In 2021, that number will shrink to just over $570,000.
So Ponto and Madison Mayor Satya RhodesConway are calling on the state Legislature to reverse cuts in aid to cities, ease property tax levy limits and allow municipalities to create new revenue streams.
They wrote a joint op-ed, with help from the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, about the issue. Several newspapers across the state have run the piece.
In the document, they said the state’s financial commitment to cities “has been on a steady downward trend.”
“Our communities are very different politically,” Ponto said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “But these are such common problems that we agree on these basic points where we may disagree on a lot of different policy issues.”
Curt Witynski, deputy executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, said the state government has continued to disinvest in its communities over the years.
This is concerning to him.
“There’s a long-standing financial relationship between the state and its local governments, and we just think that the state hasn’t been consistently investing in local governments in the last several years,” Witynski said.
Shared revenue, which is the largest state aid program
“There’s a long-standing financial relationship between the state and its local governments, and we just think that the state hasn’t been consistently investing in local governments in the last several years . ... It just puts you in a bind. How do you pay for the basic services that everyone wants?” Curt Witynski deputy executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities
for local municipalities, has been cut by $94 million since 2003, according to the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.
That’s a 12.3% reduction.
“So if you’re receiving less shared revenue, and you’re unable to raise your own revenue, it just puts you in a bind. How do you pay for the basic services that everyone wants?” Witynski said.
Ponto said the cost of providing services since 2003 has gone up, even as the shared revenue amount the city gets from the state has decreased significantly.
He wants to keep property taxes as low as possible. “But that’s (property taxes) basically what local governments have aside from the shared revenue, and I think it’s critical to keep property taxes down; we have to increase shared revenue,” he said.
Witynski also wants the state to authorize local governments to raise their own taxes, other than the property tax.
One option? Ponto and Rhodes-Conway said the state should allow for a local referendum so voters can decide whether they want their municipalities to impose a local sales tax.
“A great state needs successful cities. The state Legislature must do more to help municipalities succeed,” the op-ed said.
Witynski said he’d like to see continued discussions about these issues with state lawmakers.
“We would like to engage, and we have engaged, with Republican legislators about alternative revenue options,” Witynski said.
“I think there will be more serious consideration of that, if not this session, next session.”