The state’s transportation budget is in a $1 billion deficit, and lawmakers are working diligently to figure out a solution. Recently in Milwaukee County, residents against a $30 wheel tax to help offset some of the state’s budget and to provide upgrades to public transportation in Milwaukee County.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports
Severe and immediate cuts in bus transit services and sharp increases in bus fares would be necessary to repair a $7 million hole in this year’s Milwaukee County budget if a state tax plan proposed by Assembly Republicans is included in the next state budget, county officials said.
The legislative package authored by Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield) would terminate Milwaukee County’s $30 vehicle registration fee as soon as July 1 and erase half the revenue the county transportation department expected to receive in the first year of a wheel tax.
The county could regain the wheel tax only if approved by voters in a referendum, under the proposal. There are no scheduled elections for the remainder of this year so a referendum would not be added to a ballot until 2018 at the earliest.
County voters in April rejected an advisory referendum asking if they supported a total $60 vehicle registration fee, or double the current wheel tax.
For more, visit Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
