THE BUDGET IN HISTORY

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

and the Milwaukee World Hound Dog Team


It is the height of budget season, and no city outdoes Milwaukee when it comes to the openness and public airing of municipal expenditures. No other city does it like we do. We have office holders who work harder explaining the budget than they do campaigning. Talk about public servants!
Tonight, Tuesday, October 7th, 2008, Mayor Tom Barrett will hold one of many "Town Hall" meetings on the budget. This one will be held at the Miramar Theatre, 2844 N. Oakland Ave., and will likely draw a good crowd.
In addition, members of the Common Council may hold listening sessions in their own districts. These are completely discretionary, and are part of our culture.

Under the current system, in place since a 1978 Charter Ordinance, we use an Executive Budget system, in which the Mayor proposes a budget, and the council approves it. Officially, the Common Council Finance Committee goes through each department's budget during open session, and eventually the entire council and the mayor hold a grand public hearing on the budget, which may occur as late as October 20th. This Joint Meeting, adopted as 18-04-6 of the City of Milwaukee Charter, will occur on October 20th this year, so we're in the thick of things.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE ...

Milwaukee did not adopt a formal city budget until 1913, when the Mayor and the Council Finance Committee began to work collegially together to develop a budget that would then be sent to the council for approval. First stop -- the Finance Committee. It went on this way until the budget of 1979, when the current system was adopted.

According to A Financial and Administrative History of Milwaukee by Laurence Marcellus Larson [Bulletin University of Wisconsin, June, 1908] Milwaukee faced numerous citizen revolts due to excessive taxation. Tax levy limits, set by statute one year and rescinded the next, were common then. Woe be the city contractor prior to 1874 when the city had no authorization to borrow funds in anticipation of tax revenue. Milwaukee had great credit, and no money in the bank.
The city was fourth in the pecking order to collect funds -- the State, County and School Board all set their property tax levies first.
According to the history, "frequently the levy for county purposes was surprisingly high. ... Mayor John Maxwell Stowell [1882] would abolish the county government and transfer its functions to the city government."
Writing a century ago, the author continued, "This suggestion has since been repeated at various times, but thus far the legislature has taken no notice of it."
Well, we're still talking about it 100 years later.
In 1871, one hundred thirty-eight years ago, Mayor Harrison Ludington lamented on the sectional differences in the city where one district received good services and costly improvements, while others suffered from neglect. "Let us forever bury these, and be all Milwaukee," he said.
We're still talking about that, too.
City improvements like streets and sidewalks were paid for by assessments against adjoining property owners, and many thought that was unfair. That's straight from today's headlines.
The need to provide city services to new Milwaukeeans was extremely costly for established citizens.
As Larson wrote, "immigrants were poor and remained so for some time, hence the burdens of those who had originally settled the city were increased beyond patience."
Nothing new there, either.

... SHORT ON CASH, WE TURNED TO LIQUOR FOR OUR SALVATION

Although Milwaukee's early budgets were rudimentary, our politicians were skilled enough to find ways to get non-tax revenue. In the 1850s officials eagerly eyed the operations of the new police department -- and were deeply disappointed when the amount of fines collected was lower than hoped.
In 1888 the city's revenue was $2,737,775, of which $1,668,481 came from taxes, $366,518 from assessments and $702,775 from "other."
Then as now, one of the best sources of "other" revenue is in the licensing business.
Consider this. In 1873, when liquor licenses cost $30, the city's total licensing revenue from all sources amounted to $31,838. The city raised the fee to $50 in 1874; $75 in 1883 and $200 in 1885.
By 1888, all license revenue amounted to $268,272. Nine-tenths of that came from liquor licenses.
Today, a Class "B" Tavern License costs $610 -- not that big of a hike from 1885, all things considered. If the tavern license fee had matched the growth of the Consumer Price Index, it would run $4,449 by now.
City government is a bargain!

The Mayor's Town Hall meeting on the budget will run from 5:30 to 7 p.m. I will moderate the panel which will consist of the mayor, Budget Director Mark Nicolini and Ald. Nic Kovac. It is organized by a loose confederation of East Side neighborhood associations and is coordinated by Joe Klein.

In the event you would care to conduct your political activity this evening in domestic circumstances, Sherwin Hughes has just called to suggest you head over to Gerard Randall's house at 112 E. Brown St. from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for a fundraiser for Johnny Thomas, the first-term county supervisor for the 18th district. Thomas is a former finance auditor for Harley-Davidson who split the private sector to replace the retiring Roger Quindel on the county board.
--Michael Horne