Milwaukee council members forward $1B worth of ideas to use federal aid
The Milwaukee Common Council has well over $1 billion worth of ideas for spending $179 million in federal pandemic aid remaining in city coffers.
The 82 proposals released Tuesday will be taken up at Friday’s meeting of the council’s Finance and Personnel Committee.
“There’s a lot of great need but not enough resources, and obviously we’ll have to prioritize how these very limited dollars will be spent to serve as a long-term investment and also sustain the city’s ability to provide essential services,” said Ald. Michael Murphy, who chairs the committee.
He anticipated the committee on Friday would be able to whittle down proposals to the funding available. Murphy said he would be advising Common Council President Cavalier Johnson to hold a special council meeting to vote on the committee’s recommendations before Oct. 28 and 29, when the committee will taking up amendments to the proposed 2022 budget.
The price tags for proposals released Tuesday range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to a $171 million expenditure that includes a host of priorities. The proposals put in by council members would bolster affordable housing, violence prevention, child care services, lead abatement and more.
The city has received $197 million of nearly $400 million it has been allocated from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan Act. The second half is expected next year.
About $17.45 million has already been allocated to responding to reckless driving, providing attorneys for people facing eviction, shoring up the city’s struggling ambulance system and bolstering its Earn and Learn program.
That leaves city officials with about $179 million to spend at this point.
Barrett calls for prioritizing racial equity
The proposals were released soon after members of Mayor Tom Barrett’s administration sent two memos asking council members to use a form prepared by the city’s Budget Office to ensure compliance with grant requirements, further develop the proposals using a “thorough racial equity assessment” and work with Barrett’s administration to prioritize the dozens of requests for funding.
“We hope that in the future, we are able to incorporate racial equity considerations earlier in the decision-making process, in a manner that allows all of us do the work of advancing racial equity together,” Chief Equity Officer Nikki Purvis and Community Analytics Analyst Kate Pawasarat wrote in one memo.
The $171 million “omnibus” legislation co-sponsored by Johnson along with Alds. Robert Bauman and Scott Spiker includes millions for affordable housing, lead abatement and related workforce development, continued pandemic response, and early childhood education stipends for teachers in addition to other measures.
It would also include the $6 million allocated in Mayor Tom Barrett’s proposed 2022 budget for three police classes for a total of 195 new officers in addition to other initiatives in his budget that depend on the federal funds.
Barrett’s proposed budget overall includes about $35 million of the federal funding, though some of the initiatives he recommended — such as $4.2 million for the Martin Luther King Library construction — are not included in the large spending legislation.
Murphy expected much of Barrett’s proposed spending in the budget would receive committee support on Friday.
Other pieces of legislation include three other “omnibus” proposals that would cost $124.6 million, $96.9 million or $67.4 million.
One separate proposal would put $97.7 million toward funding lead abatement, expansion of the lead poisoning cases that require a response, temporary housing for displaced
About $17.45 million has been allocated ... that leaves about $179 million to spend.
families and more. Another measure would allocate $16.8 million to violence prevention, including $5.2 million to implement the Blueprint for Peace at the neighborhood level, $4.2 million for crisis response and healing, and $3.2 million for 414LIFE expansion.
Push for child care support, early education
Another would allocate $13.3 million to programs meant to increase access to child care. The sum includes funding for stipends for childcare programs and educators, efforts to increase participation of men of color in early childhood education and support for increasing access to affordable housing for early childhood educators.
Daria Hall, early childhood education director at Milwaukee Succeeds, coleads a group of childcare providers that came together at the beginning of the pandemic and was initially focused on stabilizing the sector as it operated during the public health emergency.
Childcare providers are continuing to function in the pandemic but with significantly increased expenses for health protocols and personal protective equipment but also much lower revenues, she said.
The sector is struggling with recruitment and retention not only in Milwaukee but across the nation because of factors including low pay and often a lack of health insurance, she said.
“Without staff, Milwaukee’s childcare programs cannot provide care and education to the families who need it, and without access to childcare, Milwaukee’s parents of young children can’t participate fully in the workforce and in the city’s economy,” she said.
Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, who sponsored the early childhood measure, said she knew women who were not going back to work because they could not find care for their children. They should not be left out of the national recovery from the pandemic, she said.
“When you think about what the intention of relief funds are for from the federal government, it’s to me to look at areas and people and sectors that have been so harmed by the pandemic but also could benefit the most from the recovery money and change the way that we recover and really build back better,” she said, borrowing President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better label for his economic agenda.
She anticipated support from other council members and Barrett.
Residents can comment on the proposals through the city’s e-comment feature until one hour before the meeting begins at 9 a.m. Friday.