WAUKESHA – Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow has put pen to paper on the proposed 2025 County budget, two days after the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed their budget for the fifth year in a row.
The 2025 budget comes to nearly $400 million, which is nearly three million dollars lower than the prior year.
In the 2025 budget, 44% or 51 million dollars will fund state mandated programs; similar to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley earlier this week, Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow lamented at a portion of the budget being required to go towards the state mandates, saying it takes critical funding away from the County’s priorities.
“In our 2025 budget, we were forced to cut two sheriff deputy positions and make additional reductions that will impact the level of service our county provides,” said Farrow. “Despite already having the lowest per capita spending of any county in Wisconsin, we cannot continue to cut our way out of this fiscal situation without putting public safety at serious risk. We’re urging state lawmakers to address the shortfall of funding to local governments. We are managing, but only through significant cuts to the non-state mandated portion of our budget.”
RELATED: Milwaukee County 2025 budget unanimously approved
The proposed budget includes a general county tax levy of $115,537,401, which is an increase of 0.59% or $675,235. Farrow notes the budget will cut the County tax rate for the 11th consecutive year. The budget would drop the tax rate from $1.39 per thousand dollars of home value to $1.35, a 3% decrease.
The budget also estimates a total of $4,791,626 in state shared revenue, up $95,387 from 2024. Of that, $2.1 million will be allocated to support law enforcement. $2.8 million in new tax levy and $1.5 million in shared revenue will support Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department operations, provide relief for jail inmate capacity, and cover an increase of over $1 million in jail medical services to inmates.
Additionally, the County will invest $97,000 towards the Department of Health and Human Services, and contribute $43.7 million towards various infrastructure projects. Of that infrastructure allotment, $1.5 million would replace a salt dome which collapsed in January.
The full budget can be viewed here.
TOP STORIES FROM THE WTMJ NEWSROOM:
