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Assembly Republicans have proposed a sales tax plan for the city of Milwaukee that would put police officers back in Milwaukee Public Schools for the first time since 2016.
The plan would allow the financially hobbled city to levy a local 2% sales tax with the promise of state shared revenue to help pay down on its ballooning pension debt. But in addition to putting cops back in hallways, the legislative plan prohibits any use of funding for the city’s chronically troubled streetcar, the Hop.
While the specifics of the plan are still being negotiated and any local sales taxes would have to be approved by voters, state Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, who worked on the plan, told the Badger Institute he was “pretty confident” in the support for the school resource officers.
“Public safety was a concern,” Donovan said. “I can’t tell you if 25 will be the final number. I would have preferred even more. It’s my understanding the mayor wanted those resource officers back.”
The Badger Institute was first to report back in February that Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson had gotten involved in discussions with the Milwaukee Police Department and MPS to restore the police protection. Calls for police service are up dramatically at the 34 MPS high schools.
Johnson indicated at the time he expected officers to be assigned to schools sometime in 2023.
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