The Milwaukee Common Council will vote to adopt the 2026 city budget at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 7 in City Hall, 200 E. Wells St.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson released the proposed city budget for 2026 in September. Since then, city departments and residents have given feedback to the Common Council’s Finance and Personnel Committee.
Members of the finance committee proposed amendments and approved a new recommended budget for 2026 on Friday, Oct. 31, which will now go before the full council.
Johnson has the power to veto items listed in any amendments approved by the Common Council
The big picture
Wisconsin Act 12 allowed the council to approve a new 2% city sales tax and an influx in shared revenue that is helping Milwaukee balance expenses, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum’s budget brief analyzing the mayor’s proposal.
Since the forum’s last in-depth report on Milwaukee’s finances in 2022, the city has addressed challenges like a major increase in the rate of contribution for its pension system, the winding down of pandemic aid, growing debt and rising inflation.
“One of the themes of this budget brief is that we are starting to see some of those fiscal challenges reemerge, although again, this year’s budget remains relatively modest in terms of pain and cuts and challenges,” said Jason Stein, Wisconsin Policy Forum president and one of the report’s authors.
What are some of the budget’s main impacts to city services?
The mayor’s proposed budget eliminated Sunday hours added in mid-2024 to the Tippecanoe and Good Hope branches of the Milwaukee Public Library but maintained year-round Sunday hours at the Central Library, which served 70% of Sunday patrons in the past year.
Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, chair of the finance committee, proposed an omnibus amendment that the committee passed on Friday that restores staffing for Sunday hours at the two libraries and would add hours at the Martin Luther King Jr. and Mitchell libraries by July 1, 2026.
“I don’t want to back off from Sunday hours. I actually want to double down,” Dimitrijevic said in an Oct. 8 committee meeting.
Dimitrijevic’s omnibus amendment also increased funding for the city’s home down payment assistance program to $800,000 and added $100,000 for Eviction Free MKE.
The mayor proposed $600,000 for the down payment assistance program, which would have been a cut of nearly $1 million from the previous budget.
“My request is that you increase the down payment assistance for families because we don’t want people to continually be locked out of an opportunity to buy a house that not only benefits them, but also benefits future generations as well,” said Rae Johnson, a member of the City of Milwaukee Equal Rights Commission who serves on the board of Acts Housing, at the public hearing on Oct. 18.
Dimitrijevic’s amendment package included a 3% raise for general city employees and an increase in the residency incentive from 3% to 4%, after several workers from the Department of Neighborhood Services and Milwaukee Water Works asked for a 6.5% raise during the budget hearings.
Other new changes
Under the proposed budget, eight full-time doula positions would be eliminated from the Milwaukee Health Department. The department would create a special fund to contract with community-based doulas.
Ald. Scott Spiker put forward an amendment that would end all funding for the streetcar, known as The Hop. That amendment failed, but Spiker’s other item requesting the commissioner of Public Works create a plan for a fare system for The Hop passed the committee.
After the mayor released the proposed budget, Milwaukee Fire Department Chief Aaron Lipski and the Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Association both requested more funding because some of the department’s fleet of emergency vehicles are nearing or past the recommended number of years of use.
Ald. Peter Burgelis, vice chair of the finance committee, introduced an amendment that would add $8 million in new borrowing to the department to maintain the fleet, which passed 3-2.
What’s the cost to residents?
Johnson’s proposed budget is $2 billion, with a proposed tax levy increase of 3%.
If the budget is adopted as is by the full council, the budget’s total will increase by approximately $10 million and the property tax levy by $3.8 million, according to Nik Kovac, the city’s budget and management director.
The proposed budget includes a vehicle registration fee or wheel tax increase of $10, from $30 to $40, to generate over $2 million in additional revenue.
This fee would be added on top of the Wisconsin registration fee of $85 and the Milwaukee County fee of $30. The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors is looking at increasing its fee during its budget cycle.
Wisconsin allows a flat fee, whereas other states can impose a value-based fee that can be based on the value or weight of the vehicle.
“There’s more of an impact from it to a low-income driver with a vehicle that’s not worth very much then there would be in some other states, and that’s sort of relevant given the population of the city,” Stein said.
If the ordinance is not approved, it could create a budget gap in revenue.
The mayor’s budget would also raise fees for solid waste collection by 4%, ice and snow removal by 3.5% and street lighting by 3.7%, plus increases in sewer and stormwater management fees.
For the average home, this would mean an increase of $22.88 in municipal services, according to Kovac.
The tax levy could change depending on what amendments are approved.
For more information
Here’s more information on the budget
Meredith Melland is the neighborhoods reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and a corps member of Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. Report for America plays no role in editorial decisions in the NNS newsr
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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