Barrett has moved from a benign caretaker mayor of Milwaukee to one that is precipitating the city’s decline.

MILWAUKEE — Significant cuts to the police and fire departments. That’s what the city of Milwaukee faces as Mayor Tom Barrett prepares to unveil his 2018 budget Tuesday, September 26th. The mayor’s office said the original budget proposal had more drastic cuts to public safety, and they said the mayor did his best–still this isn’t popular with many people.

The mayor’s budget proposal to include cutting 33 police officer positions and 75 firefighter slots is not popular with many.

[…]

“I don’t want to have fewer police officers next year. But in order for us to avoid that, we’re going to have to have a sales tax,” Mayor Tom Barrett said.

The property tax levy is also slated to go up by 3.7 percent. The city is faced with lead issues in the water, replacing leaking pipes and laterals connected to water mains. Police and fire pension payments are skyrocketing as more retirements loom.

So there’s no money for police, fire fighters, fixing the city’s lead pipes, etc., but there is plenty of money for a downtown trolley, the mayor’s staff, employee benefits, etc. Milwaukee has plenty of money. The problem is that the city’s leadership has idiotic priorities.