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Balancing the Budget, Investing in the Future
Milwaukee County's ability to generate revenue is limited by state laws. This leads to two problems, both of which are growing worse. The first is a lack of adequate funding for operations, which leads to a budget gap that must be closed each year. The second is an inability to fund urgently needed repairs to crumbling infrastructure and invest in the future.
As costs continue to outpace revenues, Milwaukee County will face a $300 million budget gap over the next 20 years without added revenue.
Putting Milwaukee County on the Road to Success
Former County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb, Sr., and former Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele led the effort to prevent a serious crisis. The Fair Deal for Milwaukee County Workgroup, which they co-chaired, identified and proposed viable solutions that could help put the County on the road to success.

Former Chairman Lipscomb and Former
County Executive Abele Jointly Sign Fair
Deal Legislation on Feb. 7, 2019
The workgroup looked closely at causes of the problem and analyzed many solutions. Their conclusion was that solutions have to address the root cause of the problem – a rapidly growing imbalance between the cost of providing services and the ability to generate sufficient revenue to meet Milwaukee County's needs. These recommendations represent shared priorities in strengthening the partnership between Milwaukee County and the State of Wisconsin:
- Allowing Milwaukee County local control to generate new revenue and reduce the current reliance on property taxes through a binding referendum process
- Increased, fair contributions from the state toward the provision of current and any new state-mandated services
- Fully reimbursing the County for the cost of patrolling freeways (Milwaukee County is the only Wisconsin county required by state law to patrol freeways)
- Equally sharing Circuit Court and Register of Deeds fees collected by the County (currently 80% goes to the state and 20% remains with the County)
- Adjusting state Shared Revenue payments and other state aids to align with any inflationary increases in the cost of adequately providing public programs and services
- Accepting federal funds to expand BadgerCare coverage for 80,000 Wisconsin residents
- Adequately funding any youth justice facilities located in the County
- Rejecting any reduction in existing funding below amounts received in the 2019 Adopted Budget
The convening of the Fair Deal for Milwaukee County Workgroup brought together a diverse group of stakeholders – from community advocates to business interests – who all share one thing in common: they each understand the importance of the services that local government provides and are committed to being part of a solution.
The Workgroup, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council, which is made up of every executive from Milwaukee County's 19 municipalities, each unanimously approved this set of recommendations. These recommendations are an important step in creating a united voice for Milwaukee County.
Chairwoman Nicholson, County Executive Crowley Support a Fair Deal
In April 2020, Marcelia Nicholson was elected Chairwoman of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors by her colleagues and David Crowley was elected County Executive. Chairwoman Nicholson and County Executive Crowley have continued to advocate for the recommendations put forward by the Fair Deal Workgroup.