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City staff present financial-management plan; committee hears possible garbage/recycling special charge and other measures to head off future deficits
Summary
City Administrator Tony Brown and Finance Director Joe Shearrow presented a draft financial-management plan showing potential operating shortfalls later in the decade; staff suggested a mix of new revenue, cost recovery and service adjustments — including a possible refuse/recycling special charge estimated at about $12–$13 per month — and asked the Finance Committee for feedback before council review.
City staff presented a draft financial-management plan to the Waukesha Finance Committee on July 29 that aims to address projected operating deficits in the latter part of the 2020s through a combination of new revenue, cost recovery and service adjustments.
City Administrator Tony Brown and Finance Director Joe Shearrow said the city’s general fund is roughly $80 million and that about three-quarters of general-fund spending is personnel and benefits, which limits flexibility given Wisconsin’s levy limits. Using conservative assumptions for revenue and a 3% trend for expenses, staff showed a manageable shortfall in 2025 that could grow to an $8.5 million operating deficiency by 2028 if no changes are implemented.
To blunt that trajectory, staff proposed a three-part approach: new revenue initiatives, cost-recovery measures and service adjustments. New revenue ideas include a proposed refuse-and-recycling special charge to move garbage costs off the property-tax levy; staff estimated a preliminary fee in the $12–$13 per month range (approximately $155 per year) but said any final figure would be set through the budget process and further analysis. Staff noted that if most of the plan’s initiatives are implemented the city could realize about $2.5 million in net benefit to the general fund in 2025 and additional savings in subsequent years.
Cost-recovery proposals included establishing an equipment-replacement revolving fund to reduce transfers from the general fund for short-lived capital items and raising or adjusting user fees (parks concessions, library maintenance). Service adjustments under consideration included route changes for Waukesha Metro, modifications to leaf-collection cycles and a package of personnel and structural changes across departments projected to reduce expenditures; staff said roughly 25 positions were part of the restructuring scenarios presented to committee members.
Committee members asked for more detail on several items before council review: updated health-insurance projections, recent inflation context, department-level service inventories and headcount implications, and how CARES Act transit funds are being used. Staff said they will incorporate those requests and bring the plan back to council as part of the 2025 budget process. Several members emphasized protecting core public-safety services while pursuing efficiency measures.
Staff also listed additional, more politically sensitive revenue options for future consideration — such as a vehicle-registration fee (wheel tax) and a transportation utility — while noting legal uncertainties and the need for careful public outreach. Staff reiterated that these ideas are for exploration and are not currently included in the plan.
Next steps: staff will refine assumptions and slides requested by the committee and return the plan for council discussion and incorporation into the 2025 budget cycle.
