Municipal Judge Steve Wimmer told the Waukesha City Finance Committee on Oct. 16 that the municipal court has seen a marked rise in citations and related revenue since 2023.

Wimmer said the court issued 5,435 tickets in 2023, about 7,000 in 2022 and 9,219 in 2024; through the meeting date in 2025 the court had recorded 9,799 tickets and “if you extrapolate that through the end of the year, it would be 12,374 tickets.” He told the committee that traffic violations make up the majority of matters: “I would say probably 60 to 70% of our tickets that come in on any given Wednesday are traffic violations.”

The judge said that fines and fees the court keeps have risen as well. Reading a report, Wimmer said, “on the far right side in the yellow highlighted area, this is revenue that we get to keep, of $6,698,111 and 77¢. So if you were to extrapolate that through the end of the year, it would be $930,816.” He characterized the court’s current caseload as the busiest since his election: “This is as busy as the court has ever been.”

Wimmer described the court’s schedule and workload: juvenile court meets Monday afternoons, adult initial appearances Wednesdays at 8:15 a.m., and trials and motions most Thursdays; he estimated 40 people on average at Wednesday initial-appearance sessions and as many as 60 on busier days. He estimated roughly 20–25% of people with newly issued tickets appear in person for initial adult appearances and said juvenile appearances are “mandatory” with about 60–75% compliance.

Committee members asked whether the police department had explained the jump in tickets; Wimmer declined to speculate and suggested that question be directed to police. He did stress traffic enforcement’s public-safety role: “I think it’s important…that the traffic code is being enforced because quite frankly I think we have an epidemic of reckless driving in Southeastern Wisconsin.”

Wimmer told the committee that the court’s operating lines (postage, supplies, professional services) are expected to remain “substantially the same” for 2026 and that personnel costs are the main driver of any departmental increase. He credited clerk Becky Yerman and staff for handling the increased volume.