MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Alderman Lamon Westmoreland (District 5) hosted one of two public meetings on Monday night focused on the potential 2% sales tax increase in the city.
It's one of several community meetings that have been held. The alderman also surveyed 1,000 people in his district to get their thoughts. The city's mayor, police chief, and fire chief were also in attendance Monday night.
The common council is set to vote on the sales tax increase on Tuesday.
Several city officials gave presentations during the meeting followed by public comment. But just a few people into what would be more than an hour of public comment, Alderman Westmoreland revealed that he plans to vote in favor of increasing the sales tax.
This came as a shock to many of the people in the room who thought they were there to voice their opinions. The majority of the dozens in the room were against the sales tax increase.
"We came into this meeting thinking we would make our voices heard, maybe have an influence. But a decision is very clearly made. We were presented with an argument that was meant to manipulate us," one woman in attendance said.
Despite Westmoreland sharing his voting plan, many still continued to share their thoughts on the potential increase. Many are against it for various reasons.
One man shared that it felt like another pinch to the wallet. He said, "This 2% isn't happening in a vacuum. It's happening at the same time that WE Energies is asking for an 11% rate hike, at the same time that the largest landlord in the city is doing $100 rent increases, at the same time that child care costs are escalating, food costs are escalating."
A small business owner, Janine, shared her concerns about what the increase will mean for her customers, who she says are mostly elderly and on fixed incomes.
"Now if this goes through tomorrow, which I'm assuming it will, I have to tell these people, 'By the way my prices have gone up,'" she shared.
But others acknowledged the tough decision ahead of their elected officials. One woman called it an "impossible situation."
Another man compared the sales tax increase to a life preserver.
"We are facing financial disaster and we've been given the opportunity to avoid it... when you're drowning and someone throws you a life preserver and you don't like the person and throw away the life preserver, that's crazy," he said.
In order for the sales tax increase to go into effect, 2/3 of the common council will have to vote in favor of it.
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