Fiscal Facts

While consumers may be binge-watching video more than ever in a time of social distancing, new data shows cable television revenues falling in Wisconsin in the run-up to COVID-19.

Despite the highest unemployment rate on record this year and hundreds of school buildings empty since March, Wisconsin voters approved school referendums this month at near-record rates. The results speak particularly loudly given that they happened in a high-turnout election and in communities carried by both presidential candidates.

Despite the turmoil of a global pandemic, the city of Madison’s proposed budget maintains core services in 2021 with the smallest property tax increase in nearly two decades — a feat accomplished in part through one-time measures that could narrow options for future budgets.

As many local officials across Wisconsin face tight 2021 budgets in the wake of COVID-19, consolidation or enhanced service sharing with neighboring municipalities may offer an opportunity to spread the cost of certain services across multiple jurisdictions, while increasing efficiency and improving service levels in the long term.

While a confluence of welcome developments may help Milwaukee County’s 2021 budget avoid painful reductions or substantial tax or fee hikes for another year, they have not erased an array of long-term challenges that may become more difficult to manage in future years.

While the global pandemic has created budgetary challenges for the city of Milwaukee in its 2021 budget, underlying structural fiscal woes are the primary cause of the difficult decisions it presents, including the possible elimination of 120 sworn police officer positions.

Despite COVID-19’s severe economic impact, state corporate tax collections remained strong in the most recent fiscal year, rising 20.2%. Normally among the first revenues to decline in a recession, corporate taxes have been an unusual bright spot during the current downturn, and an enhanced state audit initiative may help explain why.

As local officials throughout Wisconsin ramp up work on annual budgets for their communities, they face the largest gap on record between costs they incur providing services to state facilities and the reimbursement they receive from the state for these services.

The number of Wisconsin FoodShare recipients grew to 724,200 in August, its highest point yet this year and an increase of more than 120,000 people since March, when the COVID-19 crisis began in the U.S. The number of households enrolled in the program now totals 378,200, an increase of 66,000 (21%) over last year — reversing a longstanding trend of declining program usage since 2013.

Equalized property values increased statewide in Wisconsin by 5.6% to $613.1 billion in 2020, the second-largest yearly percentage increase in more than a decade.