MILWAUKEE — Today, a number of communities across our area will ask voters to help them increase staff by hiring more fire and police officers.
We looked into referendum spending proposals on the ballot today, breaking down exactly how much voters are being asked for. In some cases, the new spending is as much as $2.5 million.
Ultimately, voters must decide if they are willing to pay higher taxes to hire new police officers and firefighters. Let's look at some examples:
In Kenosha, voters are being asked to approve or reject a tax levy limit of 3.3%. It comes out to an annual increase of $2.5 million. That would allow the city to hire 10 police officers and 6 firefighters.
For the owner of a $200k home, it would bump up the annual tax bill by about $60.
The police chief says crime scenes have become more complex.
If the referendum fails, the city says it will not be able to hire additional staff.
Voters in Racine are looking at a similar question. The city is asking for an additional $2 million to hire 11 new police officers and launch a violence prevention effort. Every year after, the tax levy would continue to increase by $150k.
And a bit of a unique situation for voters in the Western Lakes fire district, which includes several departments that respond to both the city and town of Oconomowoc, Dousman, Lac La Belle, Merton, Ottawa and Summit. If you live in any of these communities, the referendum request on your ballot will be different depending on your address.
To preview what you will see on your ballot, head to myvote.wi.gov. You can enter your address and look at a sample ballot.
