Crowley Will Sign Budget Without Vetoes

County Executive David Crowley at Coggs Center Groundbreaking. File photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley will sign off on the 2024 county budget approved by the Board of Supervisors without vetoes.

The county executive will sign next year’s budget on Wednesday at Concordia 27, an affordable housing project on the Near West Side that will receive approximately $2 million in county funding next year through the budget.

“It is a new day in Milwaukee County. By deploying tax revenue generating tools and maintaining our track record of thoughtful, fiscally responsible budgeting, we have the opportunity to invest in our community that will benefit residents, families, and neighborhoods for many years to come,”Crowley said in a statement. “While our fiscal challenges are not behind us and future budgets will require innovative, creative solutions, I am looking forward to signing the 2024 Adopted Budget approved by the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors that enhances services and invests in our community.”

During the 2023 budget process, Crowley vetoed only one board amendment. As supervisors wrapped up their work on the 2024 budget, the county executive and the county’s chief budget official expressed concern about amendments that brought the county budget over a self-imposed limit on the amount of debt the government can take on each year, as well as the fact that some of the “one-time” debt would be used for expenses that may recur annually.

The county executive and the board came into the budget season with financial projections showing the county would begin 2024 with a $31.6 million budget surplus. This surplus was created by the additional 0.4% sales tax approved by the board in July, which the county executive and other county leaders lobbied the state for the authority to levy. “The $31.6 million surplus projection is a direct result of Wisconsin Act 12, which was passed by the Wisconsin State Legislature and allowed Milwaukee County to increase its sales tax rate by 0.4%,” Crowley said Monday.

But the surpluses won’t last forever. While the county gained additional state aid and the authority for a new sales tax, the cost to maintain county government will once again outpace the revenue it collects by 2026. That said, the county’s structural deficit will still pale in comparison to the dire budget projections for a future without the sales tax.

But as the board brushed past the county’s debt limit, Crowley testified before the body’s Budget Committee, telling them, “Proposed amendments to reduce one-time expenses in favor of ongoing operations will accelerate the return of our structural deficit.” He suggested that partial vetoes of the budget were likely.

However, the board voted down or supervisors withdrew a number of amendments that would have increased spending or added additional debt to the 2024 budget.

“The County Executive believes the amendments advanced by the Board represent a compromise, rather than actions that take us too far in the wrong direction,” said Jonathan Fera, a spokesperson for the county executive.

The 2024 budget includes historic investments in county departments that have been operating under regular budget cuts for nearly two decades. The final budget also includes one-time spending that fills holes in future transit budgets and significant spending on infrastructure and Parks. The board also retained $21.5 of the $24 million in property tax relief recommended by Crowley. Next year will be the first time since 1992 that the overall property tax levy is reduced by more than $1 million, and there hasn’t been a property tax reduction at all since 2004.

“The County Executive believes that the 2024 Adopted Budget is what’s needed right now to enhance services and deploy investments throughout Milwaukee County that will save taxpayer dollars in the long-term,” Fera said. “The County Executive also shares the strong desire with the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors to, at long last, make critical investments in our communities that have been delayed for many years.”

The county executive recognizes the “urgent need” to invest in many of the government services that have been cut over the years, Fera said, adding, “the County’s fiscal challenges are not behind us and thoughtful, fiscally responsible budgeting will continue to be needed.”