County panel approves $30 wheel tax
Milwaukee County vehicle owners likely will begin paying a $30 wheel tax next year after the County Board's finance committee on Wednesday recommended the annual registration fee be included as a source of new revenue for bus transit and transportation projects in the 2017 budget.
The committee approved, on a 5-2 vote, an ordinance proposed by Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb Sr. that establishes a $30 county registration fee per vehicle instead of the $60 fee included in County Executive Chris Abele's recommended budget.
Not approving the $30 fee, Supervisor Willie Johnson Jr. said, would require the board "to go into deliberations to gut county government."
Supervisors Michael Mayo Sr. and Sequanna Taylor voted against the registration fee.
The fee would generate nearly $13.5 million in revenue in 2017, according to budget documents. The funds would be split with $11.5 million going to bus transit operating costs and $2 million to be spent on major transportation projects, according to budget documents.
Abele opted for a $60 vehicle registration fee to generate $27.1 million in 2017 for transit operating costs and major transportation capital projects, such as bus replacements, bridge and road repairs, and development of a bus rapid transit service between downtown Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center in Wauwatosa.
Abele's $1.18 billion spending plan would split the larger pool of wheel tax funds with $11.5 million going to the Milwaukee County Transportation System's operating budget to offset declines in fare revenues and state and federal support. The remaining $15.6 million would go to transportation capital projects.
By cutting the wheel tax in half, Lipscomb and the finance committee reduced revenue in the budget by $13.6 million. Consequently, the committee this week also approved a package of spending cuts recommended by Lipscomb that deletes or delays several road construction and other transportation projects included in Abele's spending plan.
Among the impacts of the reduced spending package: slow development of the bus rapid transit service by extending its completion until 2018; trim fleet vehicle purchases by the Sheriff's Office and Parks Department; and delay building a replacement highway maintenance shop on the north side of the county.
An amendment by Supervisor John Weishan Jr. to eliminate the entire wheel tax from the 2017 budget, and cut $27.1 million in spending on transportation and transit services, was rejected by the finance committee.
The County Board is scheduled to adopt a 2017 budget on Monday and it could consider additional amendments on that day.
The county property tax levy would rise 1.46%, or nearly $4.19 million, to $291.17 million, under Abele's recommended budget.
Budget amendments approved as of Wednesday's meeting would increase the levy an additional $300,072 to $291.47 million, or a 1.56% increase over this year's levy, said Steve Cady, research and policy director in the Comptroller's Office.
Total county spending would come in at $1.1 billion, under the finance panel's recommended budget.
Under an amendment approved Wednesday by the committee, county officials would create a panel to study options for mitigating the impact of a wheel tax on low- and middle-income households. The amendment also would require officials to ask the Legislature to give the county authority to reduce a registration fee based on value or age of a vehicle instead of collecting the flat fee mandated under state law.
Supervisors representing City of Milwaukee districts have criticized a county wheel tax as hitting city vehicle owners the hardest since they already pay a $20 fee in addition to the $75 state registration fee.
An advisory referendum question approved by the committee Wednesday would ask voters in the April 4, 2017, election whether they support Abele's proposed $60 registration fee per vehicle to help pay costs of transit services and transportation projects.
"We should let the residents vote on whether or not a $60 wheel tax is the right way to fund our transportation budget in the future," Lipscomb said.
Comptroller Scott Manske advised the County Board that revenue from the larger $60 fee is needed to help fund county transportation systems. Even with a $60 fee starting in 2017, Manske said, the revenue would not be sufficient to balance transit expenses in just a few years without increases in bus fares or route cuts.
Abele's office issued a statement that while pleased the committee sees a need for a wheel tax, he believes the $30 fee is not sufficient to avoid steep cuts on transit services in the future.