Common Council - Regular Meeting

And on the proposed 2026 budget will come to order. Will the city clerk please call the roll?

Hold the draft.

Present. Here.

Here. Here.

Jackson, here. Here. Here. Here. Present.

Present. Here.

I'm here. Mister president.

Present. 15 members present, please rise for the pledge of allegiance to be followed by a moment of silent meditation. Let the record reflect that his honor, mayor Cavalier Johnson, is in the is in attendance. The following elected officials are almost all also present at the front. Chair of the finance and personnel committee, Aldoyn Marina Dimitrijevic, city attorney Evan Goyke, city controller Bill Christensen.

I believe we may be joined later by Treasurer Cox. The common council will now hold a public hearing on the proposed budget for 2026 in accordance with the statutes of the state of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee City Charter. All persons to be heard will be given an opportunity to express their views on various appropriations as established in the proposed budget. Please be aware this is an opportunity for the common council and the mayor to listen to the public and no comments or responses should be expected from either members of the council or the mayor. All remarks should be directed to me as chairman.

Name calling, profanity and personal texts are out of order in this form and will not be tolerated. In the interest of fairness, speakers should confine their remarks in no more than four minutes. Large groups of individuals who wish to make the same point should consider naming a spokesperson or two. If any person who wishes to speak has not yet registered, please do so in the lobby of this chamber. For my own benefit, I'd ask to write allegedly.

I will now begin calling up names of those who have signed up to speak. I will call them in the I will call them in the in line to next gather I will call next in line to gather near the lectern. We'll begin with Jay Hasselhoff and in the queue is Annie Cornell.

Good evening. I'm Jay Hasselhoff from the Jackson Park Community Association, support from local residents and advocates for street safety including County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez, Milwaukee Walks and MKE Neighbors. Milwaukee has a rare opportunity right now to improve safety, save the sanity of local residents and save taxpayer dollars all simultaneously. Here's the situation. ATC is tearing up 43rd Street from Cleveland to Oklahoma for the next six months to replace aging utilities.

Their contract requires them to restore the street afterwards. At the same time, MMSD is reshaping Jackson Park floodplain, relocating sports fields to 43rd Street. This means dozens of soccer playing children dropped off by their well meaning families will cross a major road, mid block to reach those fields. DPW in support has a limited amount earmarked for safety upgrades to that same street, far too little for the scale of need. The opportunity for success is clear.

Restore 43rd Street once, not twice. How? Direct ATC's restoration to meet the city's plan the first time, then invest the saved amount into the safety measures at the level necessary to really protect our kids. Bumpouts, raised crosswalks, lighted warning signs. This is smart planning, safer crossing for children, fewer disruptions for neighbors, and better use of taxpayer dollars. Please commit to one reconstruction now and don't wait to react to a tragic incident after two. Thank you.

Thank you. Annie Cornell I believe and then in the queue is Tara Kavasos.

Hi, my name is Annie Carroll. I don't have very good handwriting. And I live in Aldersperson, Alex Brower's district at 3458 North Brevin Street. I'm here today because I believe the city budget should reflect long term planning to reduce the effects of climate change on our city. We live in a crisis culture where urgent issues often overshadow the slow moving but deeply consequential threat of climate change.

Nonetheless nonetheless, we must not lose sight of our responsibility to build a just and livable city for future generations. As climate scientist Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson reminds us, just our being here in this point in time makes us the most powerful people that have ever lived. Nothing has ever threatened our ecologies more than the extraction and burning of fossil fuels and affluent consumer culture that we see today. And yet, we have also been granted an astonishingly beautiful gift, the chance to shepherd human and animal life into the coming centuries and millennia. And that's a humbling power and a profound privilege.

I want to thank the council and the mayor for continuing to fund the environmental collaboration office and the proposed budget that investment matters. But I also urge the city to consider what influence it can exert on We Energies. As our primary energy provider, We Energies must be a partner, not a barrier in our climate goals. The city is a major customer and a policy stakeholder. It should use that leverage to demand transparency and accountability in how We Energies sources its energy.

I know Alderperson Brower has advocated for municipal ownership of our utility, but right now that would mean inheriting the same fossil fuel infrastructure that We Energies continues to invest in. Instead, I encourage the city to carve out time to advocate more strongly for renewable investment and create models like Ann Arbor's new municipal sustainable energy utility, an innovative approach that could help Milwaukee accelerate its transition to renewable energy. Thank you for your time and for your leadership in shaping a sustainable future for our city.

You. Tara Kovasos, please. And in the queue is Ian Gunther.

Good evening. I'm Tara Kavasos, and live in District 11, and I was recently appointed to the Safety and Civic Commission for my district. And just upon getting appointed and learning it this year in 2025, I realized that the commission is not funded, and this is the city commission. So the mission, and this is from the first press release when the commission was formed, the mission of Milwaukee Safety and Civic Commission is to improve the quality of life in Milwaukee by improving safety and addressing citywide problems through effective targeted public education and public information. Some of the matters under the review of this commission include, but are not limited to, lowering the demand for drugs, traffic safety, raising educational achievements, raising school attendance, graduation rates, addressing parenting, reducing litter, water safety, fire safety, firearm safety, accidental poisoning, and other topics that affect the health of the city.

I want this commission to be successful and make an impact citywide. I don't want to do a few things in each district where it's not proportionate. I could do things in my district but we should be making a citywide impact. And that takes investment from the city. So I encourage you to look at the budget and these things that are talked about every single day from city leaders, from our mayor, from our organizations out there that they're struggling with, there has to be some investment power in making that change and start reversing some trends backwards.

And it takes time to move behaviors in a different direction. It takes interaction. It takes hosting things that will bring people out to you to engage with you, to gain a following, to start teaching some of these things. Some parents don't even know what drugs look like anymore to keep track of what their children are taking or doing. So there is a lot of education that needs to be out there and I would really encourage this council to fund this commission so we can begin making an impact across every district. Thank you.

Thank you. Ian Gunther, in the queue is Pam Fett.

My name is Ian Gunther. I'm the chief steward of AFSCREEN forty seven, the city union that covers the Department of Neighborhood Services, Department of City Development, the assessor's office, and the majority of Milwaukee Waterworks employees. I'm also an electrical engineer with plants engineering at Lynnwood water treatment plant. I'm here among the city workers behind me who have stood up to work on organizing this union. We represent a new wave of concerted action around defending and advocating for the dignity of city workers.

Conditions in some sectors of the city workforce are abysmal, from seemingly endless emergency hours for water main repair workers to excessive overtime for treatment plan operators to water quality scientists not even having received a consumer price index wage adjustment in over a decade. In the letter that our union sent to our city representatives, we have come to the conclusion that we are well past due for compensation for our efforts pushing through the pandemic years. Every year, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission releases recommendations for the bare minimum and raises needed to keep up with inflation and increasing cost of living. The city of Milwaukee has failed to meet the bare minimum and raises for several years. The state commission says that we should have expected nearly 17% in raises since 2023 just to keep up with the market.

Instead, we've received only 3% to 4% in raises since that time. With compounding losses, if we wanted to be honest about what it would take to make up for lost wages, should we be demanding 26% in raises this year just to break even with the market. Today, we humbly demand that only a quarter of what we deserve, six and a half percent. We understand that the city is going through a budget crisis while the state coffers have billions of dollars in surplus at their disposal. But none of that changes the fact that the city workers are struggling to make ends meet under mounting economic pressure. This is the reality we are working with. We demand fair market compensation for our labor performed. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Pam Fent and then in the queue is Dane McNeil.

Good evening. My name is Pam Fent. I'm the president of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and I'm here to speak on behalf of general city workers. The cost of living continues to be a top political issue in Milwaukee and across the country. City of Milwaukee employees perform many essential duties that benefit both residents and visitors to the community.

In previous budget cycles, we have stressed the importance of general city employees. Last year there was no raise. For the previous two years, there was a 2% annual increase. As stated by Ian, this falls far below the consumer price index figures for the past three years. Additionally, healthcare premiums are going up for 2026 and that further decreases disposable income.

General city workers who I believe are much more likely to be your constituents than members of MPD and who also don't call the National Guard on us deserve a higher raise. Please take action to keep general city workers compensation from falling further behind. Thank you.

Thank you. Dana McNeil and, Cristobal Martinez is in the queue.

Hello. My name is Dane McNeil. I'm a union member with AFSCME Local forty seven, and I'm a city worker for the Department of Neighborhood Services. As all of our older people know, the Department of Neighborhood Services is critically important to keeping private properties and our neighborhoods safe, clean, and dealing with issues that your constituents request of your departments and your offices on a regular basis. Like our, chief Stewart has said, we're demanding a six and a half percent raise to be put into the 2026 budget so that we can try to stay paying our bills.

I believe that we deserve fair compensation for our labor performed and that we deserve dignity in our work. We would like our we would like our raise to be put into the

2026 budget. Thank you. You. Cristabel Martinez and then the queue is Sienna Cruz. Sienna Cruz?

I think it's Selena Cruz.

Okay, yeah, can't read you. Sorry.

Good evening, Council President Perez, members of the Common Council and Budget Director. My name is Cristobal Martinez and I serve as a staff member Transformation where I oversee our civics department and support our youth led efforts to advance equity and participation across Wisconsin. Over the past year, our team has had thousands of conversations with Milwaukee residents. Together, we knocked on more than 650,000 doors asking people across the city one simple question. What issues matter most to you and your family?

And we heard a wide range of answers from housing to jobs to schools and mental health. But across neighborhoods, one theme came through loud and clear, public safety. Not just safety defined by enforcement, but safety defined by stability, opportunity, and care. Many of those residents wanted to do more than share their opinions and they wanted to get involved. So we invited them in, and over the past year, over, our lit civic members began meeting monthly to learn about the city government, city budget process, and develop testimony rooted in both lived experiences and data.

Our civic members come from all walks of life, and they are young professionals, parents, students, and workers from every corner of Milwaukee. Many balance multiple responsibilities, yet they still show up because they care deeply about the city about the city. They bring intersectional perspectives shaped by race, class, gender, and lived experiences. And they are they all are here to share a common goal, to build safer and stronger neighborhoods for everyone. Through their collective work, they identify public safety as their top priority, and they are here tonight to share what that means for from their perspective of the people who live it every day.

Each of them represent hundreds of voices that we've met at the door and people who want to see a city budget that reflects their values, prevention, equity, care. I wanna thank the council for providing the space for residents to be heard, and know that we deeply respect the work that you do and the challenges you face balancing a complex budget as well. At the same time, I hope tonight's testimonies serve as a reminder that community voice is in opposition. These young leaders are here because they believe in Milwaukee and want to help to make our city safer, stronger, and more equitable for everyone. On behalf of Leaders Igniting Transformation, I invite the council to continue partnering with us as we reimagine public safety through prevention, equity, and care. And

then

we urge you to adopt the 2026 budget that invests in people, strengthens our neighborhoods, and reflects the voices of Milwaukee's black, brown, and working class communities. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your commitment to the city as we call home.

Thank you. Selena Cruz and in the queue is Elizabeth O'Brien.

Good evening council president Biddas and members of the common council. My name is Selena Cruz and I'm a staff member at Leaders Igniting Transformation Lit, an advocacy organization led by youth across the state of Wisconsin. At LIT, we believe that public safety means more than emergency response. It's about prevention, access, and long term stability. That includes keeping our election secure and accessible and protecting our communities from environmental harm.

First, we ask the council to increase funding for the Milwaukee elections commissions to strengthen our local democracy. During the spring election this year, nine polling sites temporarily ran out of ballots and approximately 60 others faced shortages or delays according to the executive director, Paulina Gutierrez. These challenges left some voters waiting for waiting hours to cast their ballots. And to prevent this from happening again, we urge the council to invest in hiring additional election staff to ensure ballots are managed efficiently and expanding early voting locations, especially on college campuses and under underserved areas in Milwaukee's North And South Side. A fully funded election commission keeps our democracy safe and accessible.

Second, we ask for an increased funding for the environmental health services to protect protect residents from climate related disasters. The flooding Milwaukee experienced this summer was a reminder that climate change is already here affecting our most vulnerable communities. We need investments in flood prevention, storm water management, and green infrastructure to prevent property damage and reduce emergency response costs over time. On behalf of Leaders Igniting Transformation, I invite this council to collaborate with us to reimagine public safety as prevention, equity, and care. We urge you to adopt a 2026 city budget that invests in people, strengthens neighborhoods, and reflects the voices of Milwaukee's working classes communities. Thank you.

Thank you. Elizabeth O'Brien and in the queue is Ayonada Clarkman. I can't read that well.

Good evening council president Perez, members of the common council and budget director. My name is Elizabeth O'Brien and I'm the secretary of the power paths youth action board and a civic member of leaders igniting transform transformation. I'm here today because Milwaukee's 2026 city budget is an opportunity to redefine what public safety looks like for working families through prevention, fairness, and care. I've spent the past three years serving Milwaukee youth as an AmeriCorps member, and I've seen how our city's reliance on fines and fees to raise revenue hurts families, especially those living paycheck to paycheck. When a $50 parking ticket or a municipal fine becomes $150 with late fees, that can mean the difference between paying rent or losing housing.

These costs pile up, push people into debt, and even in some cases lead to driver's license suspensions, making it harder to get to work, care for family, or stay stable. That's not public safety. That's punishment for being poor. And it's not a sustainable way to fund our city. Milwaukee depends on fines and fees to make up for revenue gaps. It places that burden directly on residents, many of them low income instead of building a fair and balanced budget that serves everyone. The 2026 proposed budget projects about $2,000,000 in revenue. I'm asking this council to redirect those funds towards prevention into youth jobs, housing stability, and violence interruption programs that strengthen, not strain our communities. We know these strategies work. The University of Chicago crime lab sorry.

Crime lab found youth employment programs reduced violent crime involvement by 40%. More than half of Milwaukee renters spend over 30% of their income on housing. Stable housing and fair opportunity are the real foundations of safety. I've seen it firsthand. When young people have access to jobs and mentorship, they don't just stay out of harm's way, they lead. As a member of leaders igniting transformation, I invite this council to reimagine public safety as prevention, equity, and care. We urge you to adopt a 2026 city budget that invests in people, strengthens neighborhoods, and reflects the needs of Milwaukee's black, brown, and working class communities. Thank you. Thank you. Leonata Clarkin.

Leonata Clarkin.

Markel Crawford. In the queue is Elizabeth Zweig.

Good evening, everyone. Common counsel, President Perez, Mayor Cavalier, and, the common council as a whole and budget director. My name is Markel Crawford. I am a proud Milwaukee native, vice president of youth action board of Pathfinders, and a civic member of leaders igniting transformation. So I am here today to speak about what real safety looks like when investing in people and not punishment.

Growing up here, I've seen that safety doesn't come from fear. It comes from opportunity. When young people have access to stable housing, mentors, great career opportunities such as apprenticeships, I'm an example of that. Although we are not perfect, I still see myself as others do, which is a representative of Milwaukee natives. So this keeps our neighborhoods safe, investing in people.

We excuse me when they don't, poverty and instability fills the gaps. Right now, Milwaukee spends nearly half of its budget, its general fund budget on safety on public safety departments, mostly police police and fire, but only a small fraction goes to prevention of youth development. Prevention or youth development. Okay. So that means we're spending the most on responding to harm after it happens instead of preventing it in the first place.

That's not a social issue. It's a budget issue and the prevention costs less and it works better. I'm asking the common council to increase investments in youth development, housing stability, and education access as core parts of the 2026 public safety strategy. Programs like Pathfinders, another example here, as was as a teenager, I started volunteering at Pathfinders and then I ended up being a paid peer advocate, so I started off my journey that way. Went from being in house fire situations, homelessness, to being someone who supported people.

Alright,

Programs like Pathfinders, Salvation Army, Boys and Girls Club gave me tools that I needed. Stability, mentorship, and sense of purpose. Those investments didn't change my life. They reduced the kind of harm that that cost the city millions each year in enforcement and incarceration. I have learned that when you invest in people, you prevent problems before they reach a crisis.

That's the kind of safety every family deserves. As a part of leaders igniting transformation, I invite the council to reimagine public safety as prevention, equity, and care. Please adopt 2026 city budget that invests in people, strengthens neighborhoods, and builds lasting safety for all Milwaukeeans. Thank

you. Thank you. Elizabeth Zwig and Michael Slater is no excuse me, Michael Staller is in the queue. Staller.

Hi, thank you for being here and thank you for your leadership of Milwaukee. My name is Elizabeth Zieg. I moved here a year ago and I've lived in a lot of different places and this is a really wonderful special city. I am here to talk about climate change. As a mom, I have an eight year old with asthma, as I'm sure a number of folks in here potentially couldn't even go outside this summer with some of the air quality that we've had, as well as the obvious flooding that others have mentioned.

So I know this hits some of our most vulnerable communities. And for me personally I want to be able to look in my son's eyes and say that I did something or said something. As others have said, it's a problem that's really easy to ignore. Whether it's other news of the day that's happening, It's easy to ignore and push it away, but it threatens every aspect of what we do, whether it's the economy, whether it's our health. And so it's really an investment.

It's not an expense. And it's something that supports resilience, public safety, and a really vibrant city. So I ask and I appreciate that the environment collaboration office is fully funded. I also would ask that the city look at their relationship to We Energies and and use your power to ask for more renewable energy infrastructure. We know that We Energies is not currently supporting that to the degree that they could, and they're investing in methane gas plants that pollute our communities, specifically in Oak Creek currently, and others on the way. The PSC is not doing a great job in holding them accountable, so their customers need to step up and do that job. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. Michael Staller, and in the queue is Ron Jansen.

Good evening, counsel. Good evening, president. My name is Michael Staller, code enforcement inspector for fifteen years. For two years before that, I worked for MPS as a school janitor. I took a 20% raise and had to learn a lot of things to get this new job. And since then, that position is more than mine, even though I got a 20% raise to get this job. And we put our life in danger quite a bit. As you know, with the Ziggy and all the people that we get threats all the time, so it's not that much more dangerous than being a policeman. We still have risks out there, so I think it's important that we would get that 6.5%. I think that would only be fair.

Okay, thank you. That's good. Ron

Jansen and then Danielle Washington in queue.

Good evening. My name is Ron Jansen. The mayor said this week that, quote, we've got some difficult years that are coming up in Milwaukee, end quote. And as a resident, I couldn't agree more. With rising costs, deteriorating conditions, and constant cuts to city services, residents' lives keep getting worse.

As a result, working people have to struggle every day just to get by. And this government is directly responsible for these worsening conditions. Through Act 12, residents were sold a lie. The lie that the sales tax increase provided a generational opportunity to invest in Milwaukee. Well, turns out in Milwaukee, generations tend to last about six months to a year.

Instead of making investments in housing, health services, or jobs programs, this government and its representatives have chosen to enrich themselves and the police. This government has stolen money from public education to enact Republican policy, forcing cops back into schools against the will of students and community members, all while planning cuts for everything else. And now this budget seeks to extract even more money from residents who are already struggling to make ends meet by increasing fees and taxes. This government must stop spending infinite money on police and start spending money on things that actually benefit the people who live here. People in Milwaukee need housing, health care, and education.

Not raises for the mayor and his cronies, not cops in schools, not higher taxes, and not higher fees. It is this government's job to serve the people of this city by improving their lives, not to funnel money from residents' pockets into those of an increasingly violent police force that is attempting to expand its surveillance network and killing people in the streets via high speed chases. It is past time that we cut police spending in favor of things that are proven to provide real safety in our communities. I implore this body to listen to residents and recognize how close they are to their breaking point. There's still time to change course and to make Milwaukee a healthy, dignified place to live.

And since I have a little more time, I think watching some news coverage of what's going on in Chicago before coming over here tonight, It struck me that at a time when people are being kidnapped by a fascist regime, this mayor and this city council seem to think that creating an even stronger police force full of invasive surveillance technology that can be used to effectively track a resident's movement for an entire day, week, month, or years is a good idea. I'm here to tell you that it is surely not. You need to stop pumping resources into a force that will eventually be used against residents here, if not already, every single day, and eventually against all of you as well. Thank you.

Danielle Washington. And in the queue is Jackson Williams in the queue.

Good evening, all. My name is Danielle Washington. I'm a Milwaukee resident, homeowner, and public health professional who is deeply concerned about the direction the city is going and wanted to publicly object to the harmful property tax increase and vehicle registration fee hike proposal for City Of Milwaukee residents. Your budget proposal places a disproportionate burden on residents through its property tax levy increase. In 2023 and 2024, property taxes were increased in the city Of Milwaukee while the minimum wage in the city of Milwaukee has been $7.25 since 2009.

A proposed 3% hike could push homeowners and renters who are already struggling with housing security closer to displacement, especially in historically under invested neighborhoods. Increased property taxes would increase monthly housing costs for thousands of families who are already struggling to make ends meet and provide shelter for themselves or families. We'll push seniors and fixed income residents closer to displacement. Renters can see indirect increases as landlords pass on higher costs, and it undermines efforts to stabilize neighborhoods and promote homeownership. Housing instability and affordability is already a crisis in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee already faces rising assessments in unaffordable housing. This budget could accelerate gentrification and displacement, undermine efforts to stabilize neighborhoods and penalize residents for staying in their homes. With regards to a vehicle registration fee hike, raising fees by $10, hits working families hardest. Those who rely on cars for jobs, childcare, daily life. The budget shows a lack of structural reform by leaning heavily on revenue increases rather than efficiency audits of city departments, program reallocation, and long term fiscal sustainability.

We need budget solutions that result in visible improvements in city services, not just the extraction of money or services that we don't really see. And then we also need budget solutions that don't push families out of their homes and disrupt community and neighborhood cohesion. Thank you for your time.

Jackson Williams and Emma Stamps is in the queue.

Hello everybody. Good evening. My name is Jackson Williams. I'm an electrical engineer with the City of Milwaukee in street lighting, Bureau of Electrical Services. I started working for the city in February, so I haven't even been working here for a full year at this point.

But even in the short time with the city, I've seen the effects that the long time low wages have had on our workforce. My brothers and sisters in electrical services just four years ago were paid only 70% of the local median rate. High turnover was and really continues to be a serious consistent issue. We can't really allow our wages to continue and remain at this unsustainable rate. A second factor that I ask you to take into consideration, especially for this budget hearing, is the downstream effects of a perpetually understaffed workforce.

We do not currently have the field staff nor the engineering staff to keep up with, much less improve the state of our infrastructure effectively. This forces the city to rely on paying third party outside contractors for work both out in the field and in the offices. These contractors honestly very rarely get it done the way that our constituents deserve. They simply just aren't paid to care for the community the way that we are. To remedy this, us public servants must spend our time going back and reviewing the work that we paid for already anyway.

This wastes ever valuable taxpayer dollars. This can be stopped at the top by you. This fact can even be corroborated by studies and plans by our own public works commissioner presented to this same council. So humbly, with my union siblings behind me, we are demanding a humble 6.5% raise in 2026 budget for city workers. Thank you. Emma

Stamps. Emma Stamps. And then in the queue is William arm William Armstrong.

Hello council members, elected officials. My name is Emma Stamps. I'm a city of Milwaukee retired e, and I started with the city in 1984. I retired in 2017. Started off as a part time teller in the treasurer's office, ended up going over to neighborhood improvement development corporation, the water department.

I worked for LRB. We were in the basement when I worked for you guys, and we had 17 council members. So I said I had 21 bosses, including my bosses with LRB and the city clerk. So I knew how to get along with different personalities, and I don't think that it's an easy job for any of you because I've had to work in those conditions. What I'm here for is just to make sure that the council and this body understands that retirees who have dedicated so many years to building this community only ask for the ability to retire with some comfort and some guarantee that they can actually see what their city tax dollars and now fees pay for.

I remember when I was working in water department, the first fee that came off the property taxes and onto the water was the fire protection fee. And from that point, the door was open. Now we have street lighting. We have snow removal. We have just about anything that we can't recover with property taxes because of what the state of Wisconsin has imposed on our ability or your ability to raise property taxes, and I understand.

I understand that. However, we're at the point where we can't afford to continue with everything, And I just think that a little more time should be taken into communicating to your constituents what their tax dollars are being spent on, what we can and what we cannot continue to support. Everything sounds like a good idea. New initiatives, yes, they're good ideas, but can we sustain them without burdening the people who have put years and years of dedicated service to the city, and now we try to find ways to pay the fees and the taxes. I can count on my watch, my calendar when my street lights will not work.

It's a cycle. It's a cycle, and it's unfair that I have to keep looking outside to see if my neighbor's lights are on because I live on the back of a park, and we have enough problems with people coming through that shouldn't come through. I'm tired of the silence. When I first bought my home, I did not hear silence. Now it's a constant thing. Gunshots, a constant thing. I have high speed chasers going through my block. I live in a residential area. I'm afraid to go out at certain times. I'm not even usually out at this time of night, but I felt it was very important to be here.

I just asked for a little transparency and the wheel tax, someone spoke of that. I remember when it was first introduced, now we have counties also imposing it. I think it's unfair because the city of Milwaukee shelters that burden for everyone who's coming in and out every day to go to work and have fun, And our roads are being supported only on the backs of local property taxpayers. Thank you. William

Armstrong in the queue is Timothy Scott.

Hello, everybody. Good evening. Before I begin, I'd just like to acknowledge everybody who's come out and to recognize how excellent everybody has been and to thank everybody for coming out tonight. And so I certainly give you all a round of applause for

it.

My name is William Armstrong. And right now, currently, I am suing the city and the county of Milwaukee for $20,000,000,000 in connection with a civil rights incident in 2021 that involved a police officer insisting to me it was a crime to even meet other people while I was doing outreach to run for mayor and build a business, a public benefit, you know, business. The reason I'm here tonight is because I think the city should, you know, invest in an amicable and mutually beneficial solution now. The federal judge in the case has ordered that the entire case is expected to be concluded in fourteen months. And so without appropriate action now, in another in less than another year and a half, we're going to be a trial and the city is going to be staring down at the prospect of a $20,000,000,000 liability.

Even though I'm suing the city for a very significant amount of money in relation to business damages, I nonetheless have endeavored to offer the city and arrange and propose a mutually beneficial and amical solution, including offering the city and the county pecuniary interests in potential recoveries against other private parties in connection with other claims they've been prosecuting. And excuse me. I definitely want to inform all the city officials here that I'm in the building tonight and I'm available to speak to you about anything relating to a potential resolution or agreement that can be reached. And I'll waiting until the conclusion of this meeting and available to any one of you. Ultimately, I believe that these settlements that I've been proposing to the city and the county will be able to generate significant additional tax revenues.

My hope is to use the city and the county's tax exempt status and capacity to provide, create tax exempt revenues for private persons, for example, using tax exempt muni bonds, to facilitate tax loss transactions primarily with massive foreign corporations. Ultimately, I expect the settlements that I've been proposing will generate even potentially upwards of $200,000,000 a year in additional city and county revenues and funds available. And so I believe that if the city and county present instead of reach an agreement with me and present a united front with me against other private parties that I'm prosecuting that we can my hope is to use settlement funds and generate revenues generated from a settlement to even give everyone here significantly much of what they're asking for. And so again, I'm going to be here. I'm available to speak with anybody.

I'll just be one more second. All right. So thank you. Thank you very much for your time and thank you everybody for coming out tonight. And you've all been so just absolutely excellent.

Timothy Scott? And in the queue is Andy Barbor.

Good evening everybody. I wanna, start off with, first of all, telling you who I am. I am Timothy Scott. And first, let me say this. My mama did teach me good manners, and take my hat off when I come in the building, but it's an important game going on tonight.

This is my lucky hat, so I got to keep it on. I am proud I am here tonight representing the Community Development Alliance Residence Council. And we are I am representing my neighborhood, Sherman Park. So I'm really speaking for me and for neighbors and for our neighborhoods. And I want to start off with some good news because we're talking about down payment assistance.

This year, we will celebrate 1,000 homeowners getting down payment assistance. So that means 1,000 families have gotten money to help with down payment assistance. I am also a businessman, so I'm a I go down to the bottom line first. Last year, there was $1,150,000 put in a budget for down payment assistance. This year is was reduced to $600,000 That means that a 150 families will not be able to get this down payment assistance in order to buy them in order to buy a house.

That's important. And I'm gonna end with this, and I think

we

all know and understand this. Stable housing means stable neighborhoods, and we heard a lot of that tonight about housing and stability in housing and crime and all of those things. And I came up the 6th District on 5th And Ring. My mama bought a house at 24 not 24 at 24 years old, which gave us a good start. A single mother, 24 years old, being able to buy a house gave us a good start on life and I think we did alright and others need to have that same opportunity.

So I'm hoping that we can get that money put back into the budget at least to $1,150,000. Thank you.

Thank you. Andy Barber in the queue with Sparta Athens. Andy Barber.

Hi. Good evening. My name is Andy Barber, and I'm a co chair of the Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America. And I'm here to advocate on behalf of my organization for the working class here in Milwaukee. So the workers in AFSME forty seven perform critical work every single day to keep Milwaukee up and running and their demand of a 6.5% raise in our opinion is far more than reasonable.

Like others have said, the city has woefully failed to raise the pay of its workers to match the market and match inflation and quite frankly that's unacceptable. We need to be taking steps to give dignity and power to the working people of the city of Milwaukee. And to that end I believe it's also critical that the city allocate funds to support eviction free MKE as they've asked. Milwaukee's renters deserve every avenue available to them to avoid eviction including adequate legal representation. I urge the city leadership here to recognize the importance of building solidarity with the working people in Milwaukee.

And in our current climate, it's really more critical than ever that working people from folks working in the waterworks to folks renting have the tools necessary for dignity and autonomy wherever possible. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Patra, Athens. And in the queue is Henry Coleman, Junior.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Patra Athens, and I work for the Department of Neighborhood Services Development Center. My job title is program assistant two. I have been with the city for at least thirty years, if not more. I feel I represent the clerical support staff working there and everywhere who have been historically underpaid in in respect to the rising cost of inflation in health care.

Therefore, I'm advocating and pleading for the 6.5% raise to be put to the 2026 City of Milwaukee budget for the City of Milwaukee workers along with my union siblings. Please help us. Thank you.

Thank you. Henry Coleman and Yolanda Wafer. Henry Coleman. Yolanda Wafer's in the queue.

First of all, I'd like to say to hello, everybody. And, my thoughts is this. I've been in Milwaukee since '19 since, 1961. That's a long time. But first of all, I wanna say this. Some of the stuff that I see here in Milwaukee, I don't like it. I don't like it at all. And all I hear about now is downtown downtown. You never hear another about Milwaukee what's going on in the rest of the part of the city, and I don't like that. And to me, that that just don't sound right.

So, I mean, what about the the other people that live in the city? What about them? I mean, we have to be taken care of too. Don't you think so? So first of all, I'd like to I think our taxes is getting a little bit too too high for me, and that's all I wanna say. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Yolanda Wayford. In the queue is Tracy Hart Hardwick.

Hello, y'all. Good evening. Good evening. Okay. It's funny that I now that I see faces, I used to watch you guys on 25. Okay? So this is nice. I like this. First of all, my name is Yolanda Wafer. I am born and raised Milwaukee, Wisconsin resident.

I'm 54 and I work for Milwaukee Water Works Department. And I just want to say a little a a raise is a long way coming. I've been working here for eighteen years. I've seen the changes at Act ten. I started in streets with the sewers, sanitation, meters, finally in the water department, which I love.

I love working for the city of Milwaukee. It's amazing inclusion, diversity. I see it all. It's all like I said, I've seen everything. Like this past, whereas I represent the departments, we we need help. We need just a little bit more help like the this flooding, how we all came together, did that. You know, I was out there. We had to get it done. You know? Represent Milwaukee, and I represent Milwaukee.

As a chief, getting out that back hole, you should see the residents tell him, you know, you go to the city of Milwaukee. You know what I'm saying? So it feels good to work for the city of Milwaukee, but we need help. A lot of the some of my workers have, you know, left because of the pay. We need we need them here. We need them here because I've seen some good people go, they're shitting them. And and we need them here. And you would be surprised if we the the people that I work with and some people that are being on the streets says, how can I get that job? How can I work with it? And I tell them, come on.

I I even show them. So if we can just get that 6.5 raise put in, you will see a demanding, glorious, no, seriously, demanding, glorious turn in some of these departments that need it. That's for every DPW in this building. Thank you.

Tracy Hardwick and then Karen Young is in the queue.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Tracy Ardelson Hardwick. I am a resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I'm here to talk to you about the property taxes. The property taxes high and seem to come after the the property taxes. And this is what I think.

You come after the property taxes before you look at other avenues to find a way to to fix things. And I'm gonna say this. I'm a homeowner, and my home was destroyed in the flood. And I sent you. I sent you guys out there. I sent you, but you're not there anymore. You're not there. I have yet to get back into my house. I have yet to get back into my house. Where are you?

Where are you? But you want to raise the property taxes again. And here I am. I don't even have I don't even live in the place that you wanna raise the property taxes at. And I'm thinking that there has to be another way. Has to be another way where you can find some funding because every time you raise the property taxes, take a bite of a apple from a kid. Every time you do that. I worked two and a half jobs. I shouldn't have to work like that to keep my house afloat or was afloat. Well, it did float.

I'm sorry. Anyway anyway, I would ask this is what I wanna ask you. Please stop coming after the property taxes. Look for other ways, other other avenues to to find some every other year is property taxes. It's property taxes.

And I just believe that you gotta find another way to try to fix the holes that the city of and if it's not the city of Milwaukee asking for taxes, it's the county. It's somebody asking for our property taxes. Again, I shouldn't have to work two and a half jobs to be able to maintain my home. But I have another question. Stop.

I have another question. In in in the situation with the flood, and as I stood there and watched those potters come, and they came so hot and I stood in my door and watched them, I just have one question. You can say that the sewer the sewers were backed up and you had leaves and you had this and you had that, but I'm a ask you, is is that the real reason that it happened? Because, see, I'm standing in my window, and I'm watching it. And I just believe in my hurts, other people too. But I'm speaking for me that somebody closed the sewer lines, and you destroyed a lot of houses and a lot of lives.

Karen Young and Blue Pelican is in the queue.

Hello, everybody. And I just want to say I appreciate you, you elected officials and you folks who have been working on the budget. I know budgets aren't easy, they're not fun, but it has to be done. And I know that you've done the best you can with a difficult situation. So I just wanted to thank you for doing what you've done.

That being said, my main point that I'd like to make is that we shouldn't be fighting each other over crumbs in this city budget. We don't have the money or the revenue that we should have as a city of Milwaukee and there's political reasons for that. We need leaders in the city of Milwaukee, in Milwaukee County who won't settle for crumbs, who will work with people across Wisconsin in 2026 and beyond to elect the kind of people who will pass legislation in Madison to give us more revenue, the revenue that we deserve, who will fight in Madison to get us a fair share of state revenue, to allow cities to run their own affairs, including allowing us to make our own decisions on how to spend our own city tax revenue, which was taken away from us. We were forced to give that money to the police. And it doesn't have to be that way, should not be that way.

Okay? Also, we should have the right to raise our own wages, our own minimum wage. Lots of cities have these rights and they use these rights around the country. We just don't have that here. So I'd like to see our electeds and our citizens working with other cities across the state to make those changes in Madison because I really believe that that's what it's going

to

take to get Milwaukee's budget to the place where we can get the things we need and we don't have to rob Peter to pay Paul, okay, all the time. So I did want to say also that one reason I think we're broke is our deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. I And understand they're in the playoffs, everybody loves them, but those are the players, not the owners. We're paying them more than we budgeted this year. We had budgeted $4,900,000 Now for some reason, we're giving them $5,700,000 Nobody said why.

It seems maybe because we got more sales tax revenue, but that's crazy. This was and remains a bad deal for Milwaukee and it should be renegotiated at some point. Also a lot of people have talked about the property taxes. I'm not a homeowner, I'm a renter. But I grew up in Wisconsin, in Madison.

I lived in a lot of other cities two years ago. I retired and I came to Milwaukee And I'm very happy to live here. Absolutely love it. But these fees and everything, it really is going to take money out of the pockets of the people who can least afford to pay it. Solid waste, snow and ice, storm water, sewer, street lighting, the car registration, you know, doesn't sound like much, but it's going to hurt people. If we had the power we need for our municipal government, we could make the rich pay their fair share of taxes and then we wouldn't have to do these kind of cuts. And the last how much time do I have? 30. Thank you. The last point I wanted to make is about public safety.

I don't have a car. I'm a pedestrian. And I feel very unsafe on the streets here because of the reckless driving. I've lived in so many cities and I've never seen anything like it. It's shocking the way people run red lights, the way they speed and I think we need to do something about it. Number one, put drivers education back in our public schools so people can have the opportunity to learn to drive. Thank

you. Blue Pelican and in the queue is Wendy Sparapan.

I just want

to take a minute to recognize and echo the words of the speaker prior to me. It's been way too long since the Republican legislature of this state has hamstrung the city of Milwaukee on funding. Ladies and gentlemen of the common council, mayor Cavalier Johnson, my name is Blue Pelican. I've been a resident of this city for nearly a decade. In that time, I have worked as a bartender, a server, a cook, a bouncer, a mason, and most recently an electrician.

I have always struggled to pay rent. I'm not alone in that. In times as tumultuous as these where costs are rising, increasing every single day when you whether it be or the cost of energy, the cost of water, the cost of groceries, housing needs to be a stable factor in our lives. So I'm here to speak on behalf of tenants right to counsel and eviction free Milwaukee, which since its inception in 2021 has helped over 13,000 Milwaukeeans avoid eviction. That's 13,000 people that have remained in stable housing and maintained a stable livelihood because of it.

Without a housing without housing, you can't find a job because you don't have an address. Without housing, you can't have food because you don't have anywhere to store it. Without housing, you can't raise a family because there's no roof over their head to protect them from the snow, the wind, and the rain. Not only is Eviction Free Milwaukee and tenants' right to counsel an incredibly effective program in helping people avoid eviction and remain in stable and safe housing, it saves the city money. Every single dollar that we spend on eviction free Milwaukee saves this city $4 on average according to a twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five stout study in downstream costs.

That's funds that we would have to be spending to support the homeless population that we don't have to spend because they're not homeless. That's funds that we don't have to be spending to help food banks because they don't need the food banks because they can afford their home and they can afford to store it. That's 13,000 Milwaukeeans that are able to maintain stable jobs because they have a stable home and actually pay stable taxes increasing our revenue even further. I ask this body today as well as the Milwaukee County Board to not only continue to fund tenants' right to counsel and eviction free Milwaukee, but increase its funding as much as we possibly can. Because the more Milwaukeeans that stay in their homes, the better this city becomes.

And Mayor Cavalier Johnson, if you wanna meet your goal of a million population sometime in the next three decades, we gotta keep people in their homes. Thank you. I'd also like to advocate for the 6.5% raise for all city workers, even though that's not why I'm here.

Wendy Spryopon and Juan Perez is in the queue.

Good evening, Common Council, Mayor Johnson, and President Perez. My name is Wendy Sparepain. I am part of Local forty seven. I'm a permit technician for the Department of Neighborhood Services with the highly effective building inspectors. I have been a public servant in the city for forty four years, now working at the permit desk.

Since 2015, I feel that I should speak for the cashiers and the other permit technicians. During COVID-nineteen, we all did a wonderful job, diligently working, assisting the plumbing contractors, the architects that would drop off plans at the locked door. And my coworker, Patra, and I would come in each and every day and we would do the mail, we would answer the phones, we would turn plans over to the plan examiners who came in for new plans. And I feel that we enjoy, we do enjoy our jobs, but it just doesn't feel like we're getting the appreciation. And so, even after the twenty ten floods, I came into work each and every day in the condemnation division because those homeowners needed assistance.

They were getting help from FEMA and I think the building inspectors led them through a very difficult process. There are fire damaged houses and flood damaged houses getting torn down or getting a restoration agreement to fix them back up again. So at this time, I want to say that not all of them were friendly. Some of them were angry, but they did need help. And so I think the city workers are doing a fine job and we deserve a raise.

So after Act 10, I personally had a difficult time making my Wells Fargo payments. I had to get assistance from my son. At one point, I had my friend move in for about a year to help me with We Energies bills and everything. So together with my union siblings, I am demanding a 6.5% raise to be put in the 2026 budget for the City Of Milwaukee workers. We deserve fair compensation for our performance and we deserve dignity for their work. Thank you for your time.

Juan Perez and Agent Harris is in the queue.

Good evening, President Perez and the Common Council. My name is Juan Perez. I'm an inspector with the City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services. I'm a Commercial Code Enforcement Inspector. Myself along with my brothers from the union are requesting a 6.5% increase in the 2026 budget.

I understand that's a lot to some people asking a 6.5% increase, but I know personally my own self and my fellow inspectors in the Commercial Court Enforcement Division that many of us work second jobs to make ends meet. The mayor has seen me at my second job working for MKE Rec, helping to keep him and his family safe while they're watching the game. I also helped to see Milwaukee people be safe when I do my annual fire inspections at all the commercial buildings that are in my district. I do my best and I believe that no matter how much I get paid, I'm going to do my best to work every single day that I come to work. I respect my fellow citizens in the state of Milwaukee and the tax dollars that they pay.

I have family members that own homes and I know that taxes are high. I understand that. But I believe that we're doing crucial work here in the city of Milwaukee keeping the citizens in this city safe. That when you enter a building, they know that there's a way out. You know, I I'm I every day I have to argue with property owners.

I have to explain to them why they can't chain their back door because if a vehicle comes in and crashes through the front door and catches on fire, I wanna make sure that people can get out of the building safe. And this this is a tough job. This is a tough job. I understand that, you know, the police do also do a tough job, you know, but we also deserve a raise in the next budget. Right now government workers are under attack at the federal level and who knows what's going to happen next at the state the city level, on the county and the city level, but I believe that better wages are going to attract higher quality of worker for the city of Milwaukee.

I truly believe that because I'm always every chance I get, I encourage young people to come work for the city. Every chance I get. We're an aging population. In my office there's nobody under the age of 30. That is strange. That is weird. We can't attract anybody under the age of 30. Our youngest employee is 30 years old. Most of us are in our 40s and our 50s. And I'm 49 years old and I got a second job.

And I'm not the only person that's working a gig job in my office. So I know that a lot of my fellow brothers and sisters in the union and those who aren't in the union need this help. We really do. I don't want to come here and beg for this money, but I feel that we deserve it and we need it. I don't know if

you guys are aware of

this or not, but even in this age where we're talking about the gender wage pay gap, government is the only area in the country where there's a parity between female and male earnings. This is an opportunity to help keep that wage gap closed and to even close it more by attracting more people to come to work for the City of Milwaukee by paying a living wage and a wage that lets us live with dignity and respect. You know, this city has a strong socialist history. Unions fought for a forty hour work week, not for a work week where you work forty hours at one job and then work another twenty at another job. You shouldn't have to do that.

I love the socialist tradition in the city of Milwaukee. I love this city. And I will still encourage people to come work for the city of Milwaukee. And thank you for your time tonight.

Thank you. Asia Harris and then Jordan White.

Hello, everyone. My name is Asia Harris. I'm just gonna get right to it. So I've been I'm 37, and I've been I I was raised in Milwaukee my whole life. And so I've seen the transformation of downtown happen. And it seems like y'all just more interested in downtown and gentrification. Where the money at? And then it seemed like the only solution y'all come up with is let's raise taxes. That's what you came up with? Taxes. Let's raise property tax. My auntie just called me, and she said she got letter in the mail saying her taxes her property taxes raised $67. She started crying. Said, agent, where am I gonna get $67 from? I said, auntie, I don't know.

She on a fixed income. She said, I will sell my house before I let the city take it because we all know if we don't pay property taxes, they take your house. Come on. What sense does that make? People work their whole lives, pay off a mortgage, and they adjust to say, if you can't pay your property taxes, the city gonna take your house. So what do we, the people, own? You wanna raise, what? Power registration. You wanna raise that. So now we we gotta have permission to drive on the street because we can't afford that. And then you turn around and say, oh, we have an issue with transportation. Okay. We got a we got a empty streetcar outside. Ain't nobody riding. It ain't going to the ghetto.

So where the streetcar going? Who is it servicing? And y'all not even charging the fare for the people to ride the train. So who is it benefiting? Cancel the streetcar and use that money to go somewhere else because it sure ain't benefiting people in the ghetto. And my auntie, who property tax, just got raised $67. And so what are we supposed to do when y'all come together, you and your crew, mayor, and say, oh, let's raise property taxes. Are we okay? Are you okay? So I'm gonna say this is that housing is a basic living necessity.

People should not be having to decide between buying groceries and paying rent. And y'all sit here and y'all make decisions on people's behalf who really out here in the field, and only time we see y'all is when y'all in the ghetto want our vote. And after that, we don't see y'all no more. And then y'all play shock when y'all don't get reelected. You you think? Because your solution was, let's raise taxes. Let's raise property taxes. Are we okay? Clearly, we're not. So all I gotta say is where the money at?

Because the last superintendent, he stole $250,000, and him and his crew resigned and ran off. It it where the money at? MPS enrollment is down. People are leaving the city, taking their kids out and rolling them somewhere else, and y'all solution is what y'all coming up with that don't benefit the people. And y'all it seem like y'all just wanna, just align y'all pockets with the people who benefit y'all. Because you said y'all tax bracket is okay, we don't care about the people. But and don't even wanna pay the city workers. City workers should not be here begging for a job. I mean, begging for a raise. Pay the people the money.

That's like working a job and then telling me and begging for a paycheck. If I did the work, where's my check? So the budget is because the people here come out of our checks, the property taxes, the registration. So we pay in to take to take care of our city, but the city seem like they don't wanna take care of us, the people. Make it make sense. Come on now.

Jordan White, and then, Colleen Foley is in the queue.

And my name is Jordan White. I'm a nursing school a nursing student here in Milwaukee. I stand alone right now, but I represent the youth of Milwaukee. I speak, for the voices that, you know, can't speak for themselves. And I just wanna say that, you know, we're being priced out. That's what it is. We're not Chicago. We are Milwaukee. I've been here nineteen years. You know, I was raised here in Milwaukee, and it's it's infallible to me that the price of living is getting so high that we're being priced out of our own communities.

Whether you live on the East Side, the South Side, the North Side, you can move anywhere and you're going to face the same challenges of being priced out. You could a renter, you could be a more have a have a mortgage and still end up being priced out. And I think that is so that's so strange that now I'm I'm personally even though I'm going to school to be a nurse, I'm thinking about leaving the city of Milwaukee. And I'm not the only one. There are people that are graduating, and they have no idea what they're gonna do.

They cannot find jobs. The the price the the the salary or not the salaries, but the pay that they're giving us is crumbs. How are we supposed to sustain living in the city of Milwaukee when the price of living is getting so high, but the cost that you are giving with the with the pay that we are getting is nothing? So the solution is to raise taxes, and we're already struggling. We are tired.

Not just not just the youth, but people that are you could be 30, 40, 50, and 60, and we all feel the same thing. It's outside of, inflation. We are tired. We are already facing enough with the with our groceries being high enough. And I think the people that are insist the the people that are in charge and have these systems in place to help help us, we're not even doing right by it because we're we're lost.

We're graduating with no plan, no idea what to do. That's already hard enough for them to have to work and have and have things that are just out of order. I just think that is so crazy. I just want this budget to consider the the elderly and, you know, the youth that are being raised in this economy, let alone, you know, being raised in the city that are working against them. It doesn't matter where you come from in this city.

We are all feeling it. We are tired, and I think housing should be a number one necessity to everybody in the city of Milwaukee. Raising taxes and not even creating jobs and livable wages should be a big thing considered in this budget. We're raising we're raising city taxes and not even considering the people that lived outside of downtown. It's all about downtown. Downtown. Downtown. Like I said before, we are not Chicago. You only care the peep y'all only care about the rich. What about us?

What about the people that that that stand and we work regular jobs just trying to make it? Just trying to just trying to get by. What about us? Nobody cares. So consider that when you're when you when you're thinking about raising taxes. Consider us. I wanna thank everybody for coming out tonight, and y'all y'all be blessed.

Colleen Foley and Nathaniel Thurrier Reign is in the queue.

Good evening, everyone. I'm here. My name is Colleen Foley. I'm a resident of Milwaukee. I'm also the director of the Legal Aid Society Milwaukee. I'm here to urge you to support funding in the 2026 budget for eviction free MKE. And

that is

a program well known to this body because you've all been incredible supporters of it and I want to thank you for that. And that was from its inception in September 2021 to a year ago where you all stood up and you supported it again. And we still need your help. At the end of the day, the program and what accomplishes is about dignity and what kind of city we want to be, dignity for our neighbors and for our friends and for ourselves and to ensure that we make sure that the system is working as intended and that there is a watchdog in the system and that's what we do. I certainly respect and appreciate the incredible funding that has gone out to us for this program.

And I can assure you we have responsibly pared the program down over time and used that money and treated it as a sacred, precious funding that it is. But we all know it's absolutely no secret. Everyone has said it here tonight that housing is a tremendous force for good and stability in every single facet of a household's life and we have impacted over 30,000 households in our going into our fifth year now. And that includes over 13,000 children. So it's good for Milwaukee, it's good for families and it's really good for the bottom line. So I urge you to support it once again, please.

Thank you. Nathaniel Thorngate Rain and Krista Darby is in the queue.

Hi. My name is Nate. I am a water plant and systems operator with the Milwaukee Water Works, and together with my union siblings here, I'm running 6.5% raise for twenty twenty six city of Milwaukee budget for city of Milwaukee workers. So, you know, I support a family of five with my check. So you all know why I want a 6.5% raise, but why why should you all want us to have a 6.5 raise who don't work for the city?

Well, first, I wanna echo something that my board from the Waterworks said before about how much she loves working for the city of Milwaukee, and I do too. I love working for the city of Milwaukee. I know that all city of Milwaukee employees love working for the city of Milwaukee, and the real reason I know that is because pretty much all of us could be getting paid more to work somewhere else. And that is kind of the reality for young people who are looking for jobs in the city. You know, skilled skilled workers, you know, all kinds of workers look at the wages being offered by the city and say, well, I'm gonna make more money working somewhere else.

And the the cruel idea this is and this is especially what I wanna point out to people who are here concerned about their property taxes since I am as well As a homeowner in Milwaukee, it is that we end up turning around and paying these contractors who hire workers in the city of Milwaukee. We pay these third party contractors to complete the work that we are not able to do because we don't hire enough workers. And we pay both in money and also in time. I have seen, firstly, in my time with the city about two and a half years, I've seen projects that were given up to contractors that are years behind schedule. So that kind of thing is not acceptable really and it wouldn't happen if we had more people working for the city of Milwaukee on city of Milwaukee projects.

I also I also wanna echo what the people from Lids said earlier about, you know, different versions or different visions of public safety. Public safety for me is, you know, the the the street light outside my church working. It is a street that I feel that I can cross safely with my daughter. It is eating confident the water that comes out of the tap is clean and healthy for my family to drink, and all sorts of other things that just really need to be improved upon in the city of Milwaukee and or at least continue at the same level and that will not happen unless the city pays its workers properly.

Thank you. Thank you. Crystal Darby and then Santa Calderon is in the queue.

Hi. My name is Crystal Darby. I'm a resident of Milwaukee. I do not work for the city, but I benefit from all of the hard work that these folks give to our community every day. These are good people working hard for us. They want a 6.5% raise. We should give it to them give it to them. They after all that flooding, they were there for us. They supported us. They kept us running.

They do that day in, day out, working overtime so that we can move on and do our jobs, move through this through the city like we should be able to do. They take care of us so well. We should be taking care of them. All they want is a 6.5% raise. Give it to them. That's all I'm gonna say. Thank you.

Santa And then Alice Pugh is in the queue.

My name is Santa Calderon. I'm a resident of Milwaukee County. I support the down payment assistance program. I'm asking for your consideration of increasing the funding from 600,000 to 1,550,000.00. We need those funds to assist new home ownership. We need to stabilize communities by allowing families to remain in neighborhoods. Right now, rents are rising and people are being displaced. Children growing up need to have stability and knowing where their families and their friends are also. Please consider the funding to be 1.55 because that will assist a 150 families. Thank you.

Thank you.

Alice Cue and Joanna Jimenez is in the queue.

Good evening, counsel, and to our mayor and to our chairman. Thank you guys for this opportunity to be able to come and speak and share with you our thoughts as residents of, Milwaukee. I am, as I stated, Alice Pugh, and I'm a neighbor of Nash Park by way of Armani. I too, like, Tim, have am the product of stability and housing. My dad, Jesse Riley, when they migrated here, he worked in the, Tanners, and he worked for the packing house and provided for his family.

And till this day, our old house is standing with a new homeowner in there raising their family. Stability in housing is so important as has been previously stated. I'm here to say let's continue to support this. I know it's like deja vu. You guys have heard me say this before.

Let's continue to support down payment assistance because of the fact that it does have a valuable impact. You can see the results of stable housing throughout throughout this city. And you can see that having that down payment assistant is necessary today. It's very necessary for new homeowners today. We have so many predatory lenders, predatory people who want to come and invest.

Those predatory investors who want to come and take over our neighborhoods. This down payment assistance program, it stops that. It curtails that effect and it's so necessary to have. As it again, I say stable families are created by stable neighborhoods. Right?

And we know how important that is. Our families need that down payment assistance in order to be able to prosper in this community as had been stated so eloquently before me. We are having a positive impact. The organization, residential advisory house council on housing, working together with the city, being the eyes and ears in the neighborhood, speaking up for our fellow neighbors, we are having positive impact. We are turning the tide when it comes to our black and brown homeowners.

We need to continue to turn that tide. We need to continue to have stable housing here in Milwaukee for all of our families. And having that down payment assistance be continual continuously in the budget and funded is totally necessary for this work to continue. Again, I thank you for this opportunity and I just hope and pray that we continue to provide assistance to our families. Thank you. Thank you.

Joanna Jimenez and Teague Whaley Smith is in the queue.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having us today. My name is Joana Jimenez and I am the Policy and Advocacy Director at the Community Development Alliance or better known as CDA. I am here to advocate for the restoring of the funding to the down payment assistance program. Thank you so much for the collaborative work that we've already done together to fund this program.

We would like to continue that. This collaborative work with the city of Milwaukee, our partner, HUD approved counseling agencies, ex housing, United Community Center, and Housing Resources Incorporated, along with other allies, continues to increase the number of first time homeownership in our great city. The strategy is working. Therefore, we should be investing more, not less. Earlier today, I emailed every single elder person the data that shows that the work is being done and that it's working.

Have the physical copies if you want them tonight, but we can go into details about the research and the data that we continue to collect based on how these programs are helping our communities. So despite the city allocating that $1,550,000 in 2025 for down payment assistance, the budget only allocates $600,000 for 2026. This means that approximately 150 families will lose their opportunity to purchase a home in Milwaukee. Many of these homes may be lost to predatory investors that do not rely on those down payment assistance dollars to purchase these properties in our most vulnerable neighborhoods. My own homeownership journey was possible because of this type of collaborative work.

Nineteen years ago, I had the opportunity to work with Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity and their network of resources to become my become the first generational homeowner in my family. Having a safe and affordable place to live not only improved the lives of my children, but my extended family as well. As I continue to own that property and family and the members live in it. Having a safe and affordable home allowed me to get a higher education and become an entrepreneur. Having a safe and affordable home helped me become more than just a property owner.

I became a community leader in my neighborhood. Having a safe and affordable home gave me the passion to become a homeownership advocate for others who dream of building a legacy for their families just like me. So today, I ask you to restore the funding to this important program and invest in the people you serve and in the betterment of our communities. Thank you and I look forward to working with you again. You.

Tee Smith and Traceous Wright is in the queue.

Good evening. My name is Tee Guehle Smith and I just got set up having to go after Joanna. So I am here to elevate the voices of the amazing resident council that is here and really to thank all of you, the city council and the mayor for your incredible investment in homeownership. Since you've adopted the Collective Affordable Housing Plan, you've put money into down payment assistance. For the first time in fifteen years, we have seen an increase in black homeownership rates in Milwaukee.

And at the same time, Latino housing rate homeownership rates have gone up as well. And that means that the overall homeownership rates in Milwaukee has gone up. This is an investment that matters. As several of my counterparts have suggested, we are very concerned that without down payment assistance, homeowners are not going to be able to compete with the predatory investors that are investing in our neighborhoods. We have the data available for all of you in your districts. Happy to give you more information on this very successful program and encourage you to continue to invest and thank you for your time tonight. Thank you.

Traces Wright and in the queue is Richie T. Martin.

Want to say good evening, everybody. I know most a lot of people here. I guess my concern is that the attendance in the room, does that really reflect the outrage? I mean, there should be more people here. And definitely more seniors should be out because we are faced with higher costs in our neighborhoods.

But what I also want to do is highlight what we are doing in Lindsay Heights. What I tell people is that participation creates access. And there is a saying that the young people say, Close miles, don't get fed. So, if you are not here speaking on behalf of your community and on behalf of your concerns, what is it? So, what we are looking for is this.

We need to create opportunities for young people. North Division has enrolled three eighty nine students. We would like to have access to that building, the residence, so access to the swimming pool, access to the greenhouse, and access to all of the other things in the building. We also are prepared to work with NPS in the city to look at what you are going to do with closing schools. We are rehabbing some houses.

I am personally working with a few young people trying to get them ready to participate in construction. And if we could get young people to repair a roof, you save a house, you stabilize it. And then one of the key things to all of the budget challenges is civic engagement. It's my responsibility to make sure that my neighborhood is clean, whether the city come or not. It's my responsibility to go and vote.

It's my responsibility to come down here and speak. I went to all of the hearings that the superintendent had talking about NPS. And what she said at each one of the hearings that she wanted the school to reflect the community. It's a lot easier to sell a program if the community is behind it. So what we are doing in Lindsay Heights is we are doing a high level of engagement.

I welcome any alderman or the mayor or anybody to come down, will give you a tour, will show you some of the stuff we are doing. We are a model in terms of what it looks like to have residents engaged. We also are looking at the environment. What would our community look like if every resident had a rain barrel and how much more water we would have held back that would have went into the deep tunnel, which the lake is a resource. It's an economic engine.

One minute. I never have enough time. And the other thing that we are asking is that we are a community that is aging in place and we do need to have something to help seniors. So in my closing remarks, we are working on the process of solving the problems. But we do need to have residents involved. We do need to have them going to Madison, speaking up for our city and encouraging them to do better. Thank you.

Thank you. Richie T. Martin and Alonger Clark is in the queue.

Mr. President, Madam Chair, Mr. Mayor, and members of the council, thank you for this opportunity. I stand before you not only as the executive director of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, but as a son of this city and as someone who believes that budgets are not just numbers on a page. Budgets are moral documents.

They tell us what, they tell us who, and what we value. Your service is not easy work. You're balancing competing needs, hard choices, and the constant demand to do more with less. But I also know from experience that this council and this mayor cared deeply about fairness, about equity, and about ensuring that every resident has a place in Milwaukee's story, and that's what gives me hope. History shouldn't remind us not to repeat the same financial mistakes that leave our most vulnerable behind.

Time and time again, when government cuts funding to community programs, when we treat prevention as optional, we pay for it later in homelessness, incarceration, and loss of human potential. And we cannot under any circumstances afford to repeat that cycle. Not in this city, not now, and not ever. Our center has reportedly served more than 48,000 people just last year, which included youth, elders, and families seeking mental health care, housing, and most of all, hope. Yet even as demand grows, resources tend to shrink.

In Milwaukee, more than half of youth in housing programs identify as LGBTQIA plus and across Wisconsin, including fifty nine percent having seriously considered suicide in the past year. And yet still fifty percent of those same youth who wanted mental health did not receive it. So these are not just members. They are our neighbors. They are our students, and they are our children, but most of all, they are our future.

So how do we learn from the past and do better? And brother Timekeeper, I'm watching you. First, let's make prevention funding permanent. Every dollar invested in counseling, housing, and crisis services saves 3 to $6 in emergency response and policing costs. That's not just compassion, that's fiscal responsibility.

Secondly, create a dedicated equity fund within the city budget, one that sustains organizations serving marginalized communities including LGBTQIA plus people year after year because survival should never depend on the mood of a grant cycle. If you believe that LGBTQ plus people matter, then make us visible not only in your proclamations, but also in your allocations. We're not just asking for special treatment, We are demanding equal investment because the work we do, saving lives, housing youth, supporting families, building community is not charity. It is a good public service. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, council members. Good evening to all leaders of Milwaukee. Thank you guys for being here. I just wanted to kindly request that we chill on the police investment simply because I just needed to stress the point that policing only deepens poverty. It only deepens the marginalized state of people, you know, in less friendly areas.

You know what I'm saying? Prevention is what we should focus on more, investing in the people, investing in these students too because someone stated that there was no one in his office under 30. As we know, our community is continuously aging. We need people, young people, to be able to represent the needs, the things that we need every day. Over policing is a huge issue. I'm not a criminal. I'm not a drug trafficker or anything like that. My car is completely legal. I've been pulled over so many times for no reasons, discriminatory reasons. You know?

That continues to happen, and it creates, like, so many problems. It it it eventually, like, puts people in a state of slavery, especially when you take so many resources and just replace it with policing, that's that's that's putting us in a state of gentrification, especially when we can barely make ends and meet people working two and a half jobs at 50 years old. It's getting out of hand. I'm fearful that we're seeing another form of mass gentrification. The land that we're currently sitting and negotiating on was previously held by the Native Americans.

These were the people who cultivated, built the land, even lived an entire culture on it. However, big business law enforcement came antagonizing them, and eventually that pushed them out. When we leave this building, we'll see statues on the street. Those statues will show European people pretty much assassinating the Native Americans, but this this process of gentrification is still continuing to this day, and this is a plea for social development. And not only just that, invest in the people and policing won't help it.

Policing won't solve anything. We've already saw the effects of mass incarceration and things like that. But if, again, if you invest in the students, invest in families, housing is extremely important. We all know, like, the homeless to prison pipeline is absolutely astronomical. So if there are things we could do like giving funds to the eviction Milwaukee to, you know, prevent the people who are building Milwaukee, the natives here from being ran out, that would be awesome.

We love our city and we want to keep loving our city and we want to pour into our city and make it a better place for everybody and not be scaring people up out of here or robbing them from up out of here. My final thing that I wanted to say also, another reason that we shouldn't give money to more policing is because believe, well, we believe it infringes on our our rights to privacy and things like that with technological developments. No more policing. Policing is terrible. I have so many tickets and things that I can't even pay, And I'm driving legally, but the police are yeah.

I was told to stop, but thank you for listening.

Thank you.

Yep.

I want to take a second to remind everyone that there is an additional public community listening session on the Mayor's proposed budget, 2026 budget. Come share your thoughts, ideas, priorities with the Finance and Personnel Committee. They will be having a community listening session on Saturday, October 18 at 09:30 until 11AM at the MLK Library, 2901 North MLK Jr. Drive. That is Saturday, October 18, 09:30 to 11AM.

I want to thank all the speakers and folks who came out to testify tonight. Appreciate your commitment and your passion to your organization, to your neighborhood, your community, your families. Thank you for being here and seeing no further business. This public hearing is closed.