Like the polluted waters of the Milwaukee River, our city’s media cycle can be difficult to wade through. With so much news quickly losing salience, we at the Leader aim to bring to light the important stories that have sunk to the depths of Milwaukee’s murky media landscape.
This week’s roundup covers Milwaukee’s looming financial collapse and how that would affect the city’s public services, hot goss on housing bills, some potentially good news about robocalls and an anti-opioid initiative in schools, and some potentially terrifying cop updates to keep you up at night. But let’s start with this week’s biggest story.
We Energies Wants to Wring More Money Out of You
Did you really think We Energies would stop with one measly rate increase? After raising rates by 11.3% for residents earlier this year, Milwaukee’s energy monolith now has its soulless eyes set on the years to come with plans to raise rates by 3.1% in 2024 and an additional 3% in 2025. Wisconsin’s energy rates have been higher than the Midwest average for nearly 20 years, and We Energies will keep draining our wallets until the end of time if we don’t disrupt their profit-seeking corporate vampirism. If you’ve had enough of We Energies sticking their teeth in your neck, join the campaign to take public control of public utilities here. (Urban Milwaukee).
Shared Revenue: Milwaukee Makes, Wisconsin Republicans Take
After decades of reminding us that they don’t give a fuck about our city, Republicans in Wisconsin’s state legislature are now – on the eve of a fiscal crisis, and one year out from holding their phantasmagoric national convention here – auditioning for the role of our saviors. Their star vehicle, shared revenue legislation, not only shortchanges Milwaukee and other large cities around the state – giving them back a tiny fraction of the tax revenue their residents send to Madison – it introduces a cage of new restrictions on how local governments conduct their own business.
Sitting down for an interview with a Madison-area television station, Assembly Speaker and Chief Ghoul Robin Vos sanctimoniously praised Assembly-passed legislation as a “really good package” that “maintains our core principles.” Those principles, for anyone paying attention, include giving many local governments around Wisconsin, including city and county governments in Milwaukee, the equivalent of a few stale crumbs in exchange for putting on a shiny new pair of handcuffs.
We got still more sanctimony this week when the Wisconsin State Senate held its first hearings on the legislation. One of the authors of the bill, Senator Mary Felzkowski lavished praise on herself for taking on the “heavy lift” of writing the legislation that would prevent Milwaukee from “spiraling into a post-bankruptcy Detroit.” Doing her best Joan of Arc impression, Felzkowski reminded all in attendance that she was one of the “least likely candidates to be working on Milwaukee’s finances.” Being from northern Wisconsin, she could have presumably been writing legislation on snowmobiles, but no. And lest we find her efforts inadequate, the Senator advised that “compromise is give and take.” On that point at least, we agree: Milwaukee County gives – providing the state over 15 percent of its total sales tax revenue. And the gerrymandered state legislature takes. It then gives us back a fraction of what it owes us along with a threat that if we don’t use exactly how they say, they’ll take away 15 percent more. (Wisconsin Examiner).
The only hope for us is if our local leaders recognize they hold a much stronger hand than many assume they do. The effects of a Milwaukee fiscal calamity would ricochet across the state. Nobody wants it to happen. Which means that tacitly accepting the crumbs-for-handcuffs tradeoff is a terrible strategy. Luckily Milwaukee County Supervisors seem to get it. On Thursday, the County Board voted 14-2 to approve a resolution, first introduced by socialist County Supervisor Ryan Clancy, to support “a budget provision to provide additional shared revenue for Milwaukee County to provide essential services to residents with full autonomy and without restrictions from the state legislature.” This resolution would regain Milwaukee’s self-governance and extract more of our fair share of money from the state. (Milwaukee County Legistar)
As State Budget Negotiations Heat Up, the Future of Milwaukee Schools Hangs in the Balance
Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) could be facing impending doom. A new report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum (WPF) projects that MPS shows a fairly balanced budget for the next school year, but the shit hits the fan in 2025-26 with a rapidly ballooning $171.6 million deficit, which blows up even more to a gargantuan $390.4 million deficit in 2026-27.
What’s the cause of the financial collapse? Nothing out of the ordinary, says WPF President Ron Henken. The WPF report pins the blame on, among other things, a lethal combination of declining enrollment and state policies that deprive the district of its fair share of revenue. For example, while state law used to provide for an annual per pupil inflation-based adjustment in aid to schools relative to inflation, yet that practice ended in the 2009–10 school year. In order to simply get per pupil funding back on track relative to the inflation standard at that time, students would need a $4,031 adjustment in the upcoming biennium.
MPS has one more year to access federal COVID funds, which will freeze in September 2024. After that, MPS is in limbo. Governor Tony Evers’ proposed budget addressed public school funding, but the GOP- led State Legislature rejected Evers’ budget. The ball is now in the Legislature’s court to write the state budget; they have yet to announce their plans for school funding. One thing we know about Republicans is that they love to watch public schools, and MPS in particular, suffer. Teachers and school officials are concerned.
“Legislators are saying there will be more money for schools, but I don’t know what that means,” says Dan Rossmiller, director of government relations for Wisconsin Association of School Boards. “They have not said an amount and what form that will take, whether that is a revenue adjustment, per pupil aid or what.”
That being said, MPS superintendent Keith Posely has a much sunnier outlook, claiming the two-year deficit is, “a small fraction of that amount we are talking about.” Posley’s projections show a much slimmer deficit than WPF’s outlook, projecting a mere $13.4 million deficit in 2025-26 before ballooning in later years.
It goes without saying that what happens to MPS will depend to a significant degree on what the state legislature does as budget negotiations heat up later this month. A guide to the state budget, and how you can get involved, can be found here. (Urban Milwaukee)
Is This The Answer to Wisconsin’s Housing Problem?
According to Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority CEO and executive director Elmer Moore Jr., “Wisconsin needs more than 120,000 rental units to meet the needs of its residents, and nearly 170,000 residents pay more than half of their income on rent or mortgage payments.”
The solution is more affordable housing, and state Republicans are doing it the only way they know how – by shoveling money and power to real estate developers. The bill would limit who can file lawsuits to challenge locally approved building developments, facilitate a faster decision-making process on local developments, and make it easier for developers to gain approval once their plans meet zoning requirements.
While we would love to squash NIMBYism in Milwaukee and achieve affordable housing for all, empowering profit-seeking capitalists and silencing public dissent may not prove to be the wisest choice for Milwaukee’s rent-paying working class. Any restriction on local authorities’ ability to hold landlords accountable to the public must be paired with robust tenant protections. Failure to do so undermines local government’s ability to ensure the wellbeing of its renters and puts profits ahead of people. (Milwaukee Business Journal)
Narcan: (Hopefully) Coming Soon to a School Near You
A new Wisconsin State Senate bill proposes that all Wisconsin public schools provide a usable supply of an opioid antagonist, like Narcan, onsite.
“Overdoses in Wisconsin are taking place not only at our universities, but at our high schools and middle schools as well,” says Sen. Jesse James (R-Altoona). “This should not be about the image of our schools, but about life and death.”
Critics of the bill, namely the Wisconsin School Boards Association and the Wisconsin Council of Religious & Independent Schools, cite cost concerns and worries of liability should something go wrong. All the more reason Wisconsin should use some of the millions it received in the recent opioid master settlement agreement to support the program.(WPR)
MPD Reaches New Level of Dystopia
Last week, Milwaukee’s Fire and Police Commission (FPC) voted 6-3 to suspend a newly adopted video release policy during the Republican National Convention (RNC) next year. This decision effectively gives cops free rein to harass and assault protestors during what is sure to be the most highly protested event of the year. The FPC did not hear any public input prior to the vote.
The policy, which was adopted only a month prior, was a significant victory for police abolitionists. While the victory was short-lived, activists remain determined to rally against the RNC. “We will lead a march on the first day of the convention within sight and sound of the RNC at the Wisconsin Center. We will not back down; we will be seen and we will be heard,” said Tom Burke, a national spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the RNC.
Ed Fallone, chair of the FPC, said that the vote “does not indicate any lack of support for [the video release policy] from either the commission or our Chief of Police Jeffrey Norman.” Fallone added: “The commission still fully embraces the wisdom and necessity of [the policy]. We’re simply reacting to a request from our police chief that will assist him in preparing for security and a successful Republican National Convention.” Sure. (Wisconsin Examiner).
Feminist Win! More Women Cops to Terrorize Milwaukee
The next time you get teargassed at a protest, there will be a greater chance that the police officer will be a woman. Milwaukee’s Fire and Police Commission aims to increase the female police population to reach 30% of the force by 2030. Now that’s progress! (CBS 58).
Feds Finally Take Action Against Robocalls
Remember those halcyon days before robocalls, when you could answer your phone and expect to hear the voice of another human being that’s not trying to scam you? Those days may return sometime in the not too distant future, if the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona has anything to say about it.
Wisconsin is one of 48 states named as a plaintiff in the Arizona Attorneys’ General suit filed on May 23 against Avid, one of the worst offenders of the billions of illegal calls routinely made to U.S. citizens nationwide. Corporate crimes usually just receive a cute little slap on the wrist, so we won’t set our retributive expectations too high. But in an age when getting elected officials to act in the public interest is like pulling teeth, at least some of them are finally doing something. (WPR)
