Passions run high at several town hall meetings as clock ticks toward historic Milwaukee sales tax vote

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- With just days to go before a historic Milwaukee Common Council vote on a first-ever sales tax, several alders fanned out across the city to meet with community members.

At stake is a 2% sales tax, which the mayor and some city leaders say is the only thing that can bail the city out of a critical financial situation.

Ten of the 15 alders must vote for the tax for it to pass. Some of them say they're definitely voting for the sales tax; others want constituents to weigh in first.

With the clock ticking, the choice is essentially pay now, or suffer a crisis later.

At a town hall meeting at the Clinton Rose Senior Center Thursday, one community member told a group of alders, "If all six of you vote against this, it fails. So, we need all six of you to vote against it."

The most vocal members of the overflow crowd were decidedly opposed to a new sales tax.

If enacted, it would cost low-income families an estimated $230 a year for most purchases; median-income families would pay $365 a year.

Nik Kovac, the City of Milwaukee's budget director, gave a presentation before the audience questions. He told them passing the sales tax "unfreezes our city revenue for the first time in generations. It immediately removes our looming fiscal cliff."

Without the tax revenue, the mayor's office projects the city will have to lay off 700 police officers, 250 firefighters, and 400 city employees in the first year alone.

Kovac said, "It's borderline unimaginable to think of cuts this devastating but we did the math and we tried to be as generous and as conservative as we could."

Some people supported the tax from their seats by holding signs, but no one spoke in favor of it.

And many speakers argued against the tax as a way to force the state's hand.

One person said, "Milwaukee makes the most money out of any other city in the state. Why are we letting them choke us out like this?"

Another said, "It's time for us to stop accepting peanuts."

And another explained, "You cannot hold the Republican convention in a bankrupt city."

Two-thirds of the alders must vote to approve.

One of the hosts of the town hall, Alderwoman Milele Coggs of the 6th District, told people to "Advise us, as we represent you."

Alderwoman Andrea Pratt of the 1st District said, "I want to make sure this vote is something that's reflective of my constituency."

The city's current budget gap is at least $183 million and will keep growing. The sales tax is estimated to bring in $190 million every year.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson has said it's a light at the end of the tunnel that could save Milwaukee from a spiraling fiscal crisis.

If the sales tax is voted down, the city could fill the 2024 budget gap with the rest of its money from the American Rescue Plan Act, plus what remains from a pension surplus. But then the budget gap returns in 2025.

The vote will take place at the July 11 Common Council meeting that starts at 9 a.m.