'The budget is going to be brutal': Milwaukee County considers asking state for financial help

With a looming $19 million end-of-year deficit, a disappointing sales tax shortfall and growing concerns about future budgets, members if the the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors warned of difficult spending cuts ahead and said the county might need to seek financial help from the state.

On Wednesday, supervisors discussed the county's potential multimillion deficit, which has been exacerbated by low sales tax collections as well as the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office projected overall deficit of $7.06M and projected overtime deficit of $7.6 million.

For Supervisor Steve Taylor, the county's current fiscal situation doesn't bode well for the upcoming budget season this fall or for the next few years.

"If you were elected before 2020, you have no clue how difficult this budget is going to be. No idea," Taylor warned supervisors. "We've had four years of cash being thrown at us by the feds. Those days are over. This budget is going to be brutal. We've seen the five-year forecast. It's going to be brutal the next five years."

But one thing was clear during the meeting: all were disappointed by the Sheriff's Office lack of solutions to tackle its worrying overtime spending.

"We are hearing about the symptoms, but we need to find the cure for the cause," newly elected Supervisor Anne O'Connor said.

One solution supervisors floated included calling on the state for financial support to help weather the sheriff's mammoth overtime spending, of which the county foots the bill.

"We have been funding the police, but I think we need help though if we want to close this budget gap and continue to offer public safety and we cannot continue to go back to taxpayers," Supervisor Shawn Rolland said. "We really do need help from the state, to step up and provide some of these funds so we can provide the kind of public safety we need."

Taylor bemoaned the lack of action by the county to get help from the state already.

"Where's the going to Madison during the budget and demanding that the state picks up the slack and helps the local level? Why hasn't that been done?" Taylor said. "You know next year we're going to be sitting in the exact same position — that we're going to have to bail out the sheriff's department budget at the expense of other services, other departments that are doing their job."

The county has already gotten help from the state, including the ability to raise the sales tax from 0.4% to 0.9% and an increased flow of shared revenue. Legislators passed a funding deal for the Brewers stadium renovation that requires $67.5 million each from the city and Milwaukee County over almost 30 years, but the state offset some of those costs by lowering its fee to administer local sales taxes.

Taylor also voiced frustrations about the lower-than-projected sales tax collections and the county being on the hook for the annual $2.5 million contribution toward the Brewers stadium renovation but he trained particular anger on the sheriff's lack of solutions to its fiscal issues.

"I didn't hear solutions. That's what pisses me off," he said. "I heard the problems. I heard the causes. I didn't hear any creativity."

Options floated at the committee level by the county's Budget Office suggested cutting county services including parks amenities, as well as scaling back projects the county will work on from a $1.3 billion capital backlog.

"I just want to observe the sad reality that this dynamic is fundamentally repressive," recently elected Supervisor Jack Eckblad said. "For every dollar that we take away from upstream services and spend on overtime, we are actually increasing the likelihood that a sheriff's deputy will need to be called and that we'll have to spend more money on overtime."

The Sheriff's Office currently operates the County Jail, patrols the freeways, and polices county parks, courts and Mitchell International Airport.

Ecklad proposed downscaling the Sheriff's Office's jurisdiction by relieving it of providing security for the airport.

Last week at the finance committee, Joe Lamers, director of the county's Office of Strategy, Budget, and Performance, also offered a handful of ideas to help tackle the county's looming deficit, including reducing or scaling back one-time funding items in this year's budget or reallocating American Rescue Plan Act dollars and 2023's roughly $30 million year-end surplus.

“We have a lot of work to do in the months ahead to ensure Milwaukee County is on a sustainable, fiscally responsible path forward,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley wrote in an email Thursday, announcing the county will hold three in-person town halls on the 2025 budget.

Residents can register to attend the following town halls:

• Washington Park Senior Center on Aug. 12, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

• Kozy Community Center on Aug. 14, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

• Greenfield Public Library on Aug. 15, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Residents can also attend this event virtually.

“Town halls allow the community to learn more about Milwaukee County’s fiscal outlook and its impact on future budgets, understand the entire budget process, and express their budget priorities," Crowley said. "They are also a fantastic way for our administration officials to learn what residents need and how we can best meet those needs.”

Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on X @Vanessa_Swales.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County prepares for 'brutal' cuts, may seek state help