Milwaukee County Sales Tax Advisory Referendum Passes Yes 51% No 49%
Milwaukee County Sales Tax Referendum By The Numbers
Source Milwaukee County Election Commission municipal clerks
Votes Cast
Municipality Result YES NO
Bayside NO 1123 1294
Brown Deer NO 2866 3395
Cudahy NO 3881 4489
Fox Point NO 1881 2031
Franklin NO 6534 10560
Glendale YES 3884 3711
Greendale NO 3066 4975
Greenfield NO 7332 10342
Hales Corners NO 1599 2528
Milwaukee YES 107550 79692
Oak Creek NO 6313 9169
River Hills NO 431 596
St. Francis NO 2082 2469
Shorewood YES 3949 3361
South Milwaukee NO 4596 5448
Wauwatosa NO 11991 14304
West Allis NO 11924 15195
West Milwaukee YES 759 721
Whitefish Bay NO 3801 4192
Total 185562 178472
Yes 51% No 49%
So let us review what the ballot question said: The yes or no advisory referendum question read,
"Shall Wisconsin grant Milwaukee County the authority to provide property tax relief of at least $67 million by levying a 1% use and sales tax to be used to remove the following three items from the property tax levy: parks, recreation and culture; transit; and emergency medical services?"
First, notice it was an “Advisory Referendum,” not a binding referendum!
Next, notice it states, “Shall Wisconsin grant Milwaukee County the authority to provide property tax relief,” they already had the authority to give property tax relief at any time. No additional authority was needed.
It started out with a promise of property tax relief and yet legally, there’s nothing in the referendum that promises or guarantees that the sales tax increase will go to lowering it.
We let the public weigh in on whether the sales tax should be increased and as a county it did pass, but County Executive Scott Walker has vowed to veto it as it comes to his desk again. This places the County Supervisors in a tight corner. Do they vote against your districts people’s wishes of NO or go along with the county? Do they work for the district people or county government!
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/33947279.html
To pass the vetoed measure a veto-proof majority of the County Board would be needed to override Walker again to put the measure into effect. A review of votes cast on the sales tax measure found sharp city-suburban differences, with strong support from the city and all but three of the county's 18 suburbs opposed.
Some 57% of city of Milwaukee voters voted yes on the sales tax measure and largely offset the suburban vote margin against the plan, a Journal Sentinel review of unofficial vote tallies found.
Remember from the list that only 3 suburban cites passed it. Glendale, Shorewood and West Milwaukee were the only suburbs where a majority of voters favored the sales tax.
Now comes the part that bothers me and should you as well.
“Supervisor Patricia Jursik said the city-suburban split in voting should not discourage suburban supervisors from supporting the effort to gain state and further county approvals. The sales tax plan would benefit the entire community, she said.”
So Supervisor Patricia Jursik doesn’t want to listen to what her constituents want and voted against. The people’s vote doesn’t matter in the end or at all?
To me, Supervisor Patricia Jursik is saying; do not be discouraged that the voters said NO, we need to vote YES!
Then why were we asked? If her people don’t want it, she should be voting NO. She would risk voting against the people’s wishes in her district.
If the city of Milwaukee and the three other cites wish to raise the sales tax, so be it since they voted for it. However, Cudahy, South Milwaukee, and St. Francis should not have to pay the price because some County Supervisors think they know better or more than the citizens did!
Please Email Patricia Jursik and tell her that the people’s voice matters and has spoken and it was NO from her district. After all, she works for us!
County Supervisor 8th District
Patricia Jursik 414.278.4231
patricia.jursik@milwcnty.com
Please email your district’s County Supervisor and tell them to honor the people’s wishes!
If you do not know who your Milwaukee County Supervisor is look here.
http://www.county.milwaukee.gov/MapofSupervisoryDist7780.htm
