Should County Create New Bus Fund?

MCTS bus. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors will consider a new policy prioritizing bus purchases this month.

The potential policy issues from the 2025 budget process and it briefly details the potential creation of a “carve-out” for the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS), specifically its need to replace hundreds of buses in the coming years, according to a report from the county’s Office of Strategy, Budget and Performance.

The transit system has a structural deficit that is currently being papered over with federal stimulus funding released during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more than a decade, state aid for transit operations has essentially stayed flat, not keeping pace with inflation, for more than a decade. For MCTS, the transit system was receiving more state funding in 2011 than it was in 2021, according to the Wisconsin Public Transit Association (WIPTA). State aid is the largest source of operating funding MCTS uses each year.

The federal government has not provided regular mass transit operating assistance since the 1990s, but it has provided funding for infrastructure and capital costs like bus replacements. For years now, the transit system has plugged this federal funding into operations, not bus replacements.

Over the next five years, the system needs to replace approximately 150 buses. This is an improvement on where the system stood just a few years ago, when it needed more than 200. In recent budgets, county policymakers have made an effort to fund bus replacements and MCTS has managed to secure state and federal funding to do this as well.

During the 2025 budget process, Sup. Shawn Rolland introduced an amendment that asked the county administration to look into ways to prioritize bus and fleet purchases in future budgets. The fleet of county vehicles used by employees also needs replenishing.

The county has very limited funding for these sorts of purchases this year. Major capital expenses are typically paid with debt, and the county has a self-imposed debt limit: increasing no more than 3% of the previous year’s debt issuance annually. So if policymakers are to prioritize bus and fleet purchases, the answer is to “carve-out” or segregate funding each year that is not in competition with other projects.

And there’s stiff competition. The county has a backlog of capital projects and infrastructure needs estimated at approximately $1 billion. The county’s self-imposed bonding limit and strained property tax levy leave the county with just over $70 million annually for major maintenance and infrastructure needs over the next four years. The proposed carve-out, just to meet critical needs for vehicle replacements, would set aside approximately $17 to $20 million each year, taking those funds out of consideration for the county’s long list of projects, according to the report by the budget office.

“It’s as simple as this: many county staff need vehicles to do their jobs and serve the people,” Sup. Rolland told Urban Milwaukee. “They can’t offer public transportation, plow snow, fix parks, patrol freeways and more without vehicles that work. This is a common sense policy change to keep our staff and our mission moving forward – literally.”

The county board’s Committee on Finance will be the first to consider the potential policy later this month, however, there is currently no legislation for them to vote on.

Gov. Tony Evers proposed creating a statewide transit vehicle replacement fund with his 2025-2027 biennial budget proposal. A fund would be created with $20 million to assist vehicle replacements. But the provision will need to survive the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature that has voted against funding for transit, particularly in Milwaukee, in the past.

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