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Muskego mayor discloses $1 million 2024 budget documentation error, says project funded without tax increase
Summary
At the April 22 Muskego Common Council meeting the mayor acknowledged a documentation error that omitted a $1,000,000 planned expenditure from the 2024 water utility budget, said the work was covered by a federal grant and the water utility fund balance, and announced new procedures to prevent recurrence.
The mayor of Muskego told the Common Council on April 22 that a 2024 capital budget request form and related booklets contained an error that failed to show about $1,000,000 in planned water-and-road project expenditures.
The admission came during the mayor's opening remarks, in which the mayor said the actual project costs were covered by a federal grant and by the water utility fund balance and that no property tax dollars were used. “As mayor, I take full responsibility for this,” the mayor said.
The mayor said the documentation error was not discovered until after the contract had been awarded and construction had begun in spring 2024. Council members were told the council had been informed about the project costs at meetings in October 2023 and again more recently in a closed session. Since discovering the error, the mayor said, the administration has implemented new procedures intended to prevent a similar mistake from recurring.
The mayor told the council the mistake did not increase property taxes because project funding ultimately came from the federal grant and the reserve water utility fund balance that the city maintains for infrastructure work. The mayor said the matter was being disclosed now in the interest of transparency.
