Confronting crime, backing police, new podcast Celebrating 35 years of advancing freedom in Wisconsin Tracking the Trillions Spending millions to spend billions By Mark Lisheron Flummoxed by a staggering amount of money and by guidelines for how to spend it, Wisconsin counties and cities are spending tens of millions of dollars of American Rescue Plan Act funds to try to administer American Rescue Plan Act funds. Just exactly how many millions of federal tax dollars are being spent on administrative costs is impossible to say. The state Department of Administration, overseer of federal pandemic spending, doesn’t keep track of individual spending categories at the local level and has not responded to Badger Institute inquiries. But, according to information kept by the U.S. Treasury Department, spending in just a small percentage of Wisconsin municipalities amounted to nearly $10 million in allocations, budgeting and expenditures for administrative costs. That amount is just a fraction of total spending on administration of ARPA funds in the state. A Treasury website has not been updated to include spending for the past year, nor were there fillings for most of the 72 counties and more than 1,000 communities in Wisconsin. A conservative estimate of total spending on administration, based on interviews with financial directors in six Wisconsin counties and cities, is that administrative costs funded with ARPA money is already at least twice that $10 million figure and could very well triple. It is also clear from those interviews that all this contracted administrative expertise has failed to speed up the actual spending of Rescue Plan dollars. Read the full article Viewpoint Want to Cut Crime? Support the Police. By Mike Nichols Milwaukee, which has only 10% of the state’s population, had twice as many car thefts as the entire rest of the state in 2021. There is a similar dynamic with homicides. There are more homicides in Milwaukee each year than in the rest of Wisconsin combined — a record 194 in 2021 in Milwaukee vs. a total of 127 everywhere else. I talked with Sean Kennedy, author of two pieces in our Mandate for Madison publication, about it on our podcast this week – the detrimental impacts of ubiquitous theft and assault and, in some places in poorer parts of the city away from downtown, murder. Murder is unheard of across vast swaths of small-town and rural Wisconsin. In 2021, there were no homicides at all in 32 of the state’s 72 counties, including fairly sizable ones such as Adams, Dodge, Door and Walworth. Residents of Milwaukee are not as fortunate when it comes to a wide array of offenses. Read more Free Exchange Podcast The Current State of Crime and Justice (Part I) Policy analyst Sean Kennedy, author of two recent Badger Institute reports on crime and policing, sits down with President Mike Nichols to discuss the shocking rise of crime in Milwaukee and the related thinning blue line that’s taking place in Wisconsin’s largest city. Part 1 of 2. Listen to the podcast Mandate for Madison The Mandate for Madison, a policy blueprint for the 2023 legislative session and beyond, is here! You can access all the Wisconsin-focused research and recommendations on issues including tax reform, education freedom, crime trends, free market health care solutions, road funding and much, much more. You can view a PDF of the Mandate here. Click here for a breakdown of the Mandate chapters. If you would like to order a print copy of the Mandate, you can do so here. EVENT: Talking Taxes Badger Institute President Mike Nichols is speaking at the University Club of Milwaukee on Nov. 3 at a breakfast meeting on tax reform. It is open to non-members for a cost of $24.50 + tax/service fee. RSVP to Joe Coraggio at [email protected] or (414) 271-2222 x 1374. At a Glance Badger in the News WTMJ 620 radio talk host Jeff Wagner discusses the Badger Institute’s crime report. (Begins around 8:30) A Site to Behold For the latest analysis, news, testimony and storytelling on the issues you care about, check out our new and improved website. It’s now even easier to navigate and search for the content you need in order to stay informed. Weekly Survey: Are you concerned about crime trends in your community? Answer below! 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