Weekly Fiscal Facts are provided to Wisconsin Newspaper Association members by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. The Wisconsin Policy Forum logo can be downloaded here.
Milwaukee County’s proposed 2026 budget avoids position cuts and service reductions in most departments, but it also shows significant cracks in the county’s recent budget stability.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley’s proposal calls for a fare increase and significant spending cuts for transit riders and notable cuts for behavioral health services. These cuts would be coupled with the largest property tax increase in at least two decades.
The county’s capital budget outlook is perhaps more dire, as its repair and replacement backlog – totaling more than $1 billion – would continue to grow. These and other factors suggest that next year may only be the first of several successive years of increasingly painful budgets.
Milwaukee County’s budget outlook includes some bright spots. Its fiscal picture would be vastly worse if the county had not secured huge savings and revenue increases through lobbying efforts in Madison. The revenue infusions made possible by 2023 Act 12 – increases in the county sales tax rate and its allotment of state shared revenue aid – are providing ongoing growth, and the county is set to retain robust reserves for use in future years.
Overall, the 2026 recommended budget turned out better than expected given the county comptroller’s early projection of a gaping hole. To balance the 2026 budget, Crowley proposes to draw down the county’s debt service reserve by $9.8 million. His plan also calls for county employee cost-of-living pay raises of 1%, less than previously anticipated by the comptroller. In addition, the county saw several wins in the 2025-27 state budget, highlighted by a new reimbursement for its full cost of providing interstate and state highway patrol services that will provide an additional $19 million in state aid in 2026.
For years, the Forum warned of a fiscal cliff approaching for the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS). That cliff has now arrived, with key contributors including ridership and passenger revenue declines, flat state aids, and the earlier-than-anticipated exhaustion of federal pandemic relief aid. The 2026 budget proposes to eliminate six MCTS routes, modify five others, and reduce bus frequency on other routes. The budget also would increase the base fare from $2.00 to $2.75, the first such increase since 2007. But even if these changes are enacted, it is likely that the system’s financial challenges will continue to mount.
The largest line item in Crowley’s capital budget plan would provide nearly $16 million for the design of Milwaukee County’s revamped courthouse complex. Finding a way to finance this project, at a total cost of nearly half a billion dollars, will pose a massive fiscal challenge to the county for years to come.
The county executive’s 4.1% proposed increase in the property tax levy also would be the largest on a percentage basis since 2002. While not unanticipated, and while still leaving the levy below the 2023 amount, the increase may constitute the start of a trend that will cause ongoing pain for property taxpayers.
With Milwaukee residents also facing substantial increases in property tax levies for city services and schools, policymakers at all levels of government will need to consider what growing property tax levies may mean for the region’s economy and affordability.
This information is provided to Wisconsin Newspaper Association members as a service of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. Learn more at wispolicyforum.org.
