Crowley calls on state to allow Milwaukee County to raise sales tax revenue

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- At a virtual town hall meeting Tuesday, Milwaukee County officials sounded the alarm about next year's budget.

A cut in county-provided services could be on the way. 

In the meeting, County Executive David Crowley shared a graphic of a person straining to stop a boulder from pushing them over a cliff. That's the financial situation Crowley says the county faces. 

The county has seen an increase in demand for services like rental assistance and EMS calls, but revenue from the state is flat or decreasing.

"So in the next six years, by 2027, we will have no local funding for many of our local issues, and with the pandemic, we continue to see the financial cliff grow steeper," said Crowley.

Crowley says one of the only ways to increase revenue is to raise vehicle registration fees, but even if we did that it would be only a fraction of revenue needed to fund services at the current levels.

He is asking state lawmakers to allow Milwaukee County to raise its own sales tax revenue.