Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele Decided Not Seek Re-election In 2020

Abele is no longer seeking re-election as Milwaukee County Executive in 2020.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

October 16, 2019

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Wednesday, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele announced that he has decided not to seek re-election in April 2020. Abele stated, "...After nine years in a job I love, I have decided not to run for re-election..."

Abele on June 24 held his re-election bid to run for another term. 

Today, Milwaukee County is facing a dilemma on how to continue to function with the depleting taxpayers budget funds, which the County gets less than 9% of its fair shared revenues from the State.

According to Abele, the state gets $.5B more revenue from Milwaukee County per year then the last seven years and gets back less in shared revenue, which he has been forced to cut at least $25M per year from the County budget. 

According to a graph by an economist from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue dated from 2010 to 2014, Milwaukee County paid the State of Wisconsin nearly $2.5B in revenue per year in 2014. During the same time Milwaukee County received a flat shared revenue from the state of $ .250B in 2014.

Today, Milwaukee County pays at least $3B of revenue to the State per year and the County receives nearly $ .300B from the State in shared revenue, the inequity of shared revenue.

The current Milwaukee County budget is about $1.1B per year, which public safety (Sheriff's Department) and the County courts operation and the District Attorney's Office combined total cost to operate including health social services are the majority service budget costs. 

In the last nine years, about $260M have been cut (averaging budget cut between $25M to $28M per year) from the budget to make ends meet, according to Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. When Abele was first elected, the annual Milwaukee County Budget was at $1.5B.

Article link: Shocking: State of Wisconsin Scamming Milwaukee County By More Than $3B In Revenue And The County Gets Less Than 9% Of That Shared Revenue https://bit.ly/2yQJcU8