After public pushback, Cudahy council rejects plan to introduce $50 wheel tax

CUDAHY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The people here showed up, packed a Common Council meeting Thursday night, and in the end, they got their way. The council voted against implementing a $50 vehicle registration fee, which would have been the most expensive local wheel tax in Wisconsin. 

The vote happened during a special meeting, as the council considered new urban forestry fees, as well as the new wheel tax. The meeting room was packed to the point where residents had to go into a nearby room to bring in extra chairs while other stood along the wall.

"That's quite high," Janet St. Louis said of the proposal. "And we have a lot of people within the city that have a fixed income or they don't have a lot of money, and now, you wanna add this on."

Next year, Milwaukee will have Wisconsin's steepest wheel tax; the Common Council voted earlier this month to increase the vehicle registration fee from $30 to $41. Six other Wisconsin cities, including Madison and Janesville, have a $40 wheel tax.

In Cudahy Thursday, each speaker during public comment spoke against the proposed fee. A common refrain was calls for city leaders to find places in the budget where cuts would do minimal harm.

"I don't think you need these fees," Jim Buss said. "We don't have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem."

Mayor Ken Jankowski pushed back on the idea Cudahy was spending recklessly. He accused previous administrations of putting off tough decisions and pointed to city hall, itself, as evidence the city has delayed improvements it would have otherwise made.

"The roof leaks," he said. "The back of the building is moving because the footings are not the best; they're actually deteriorating."

Jankowski said if people were outraged over Cudahy's budget situation, they should be mad at the state Legislature in Madison. 

The mayor specifically pointed to limits on how much cities can increase property taxes. Under state law, such increases are tied to the rate of new construction. 

In Cudahy, a lack of new construction meant that property taxes on a $200,000 house went from about $1,900 in 2016 to $1,165 in 2024. A modest increase in the most recent budget amounts to an additional $3.50 per home.

Jankowski maintained the state should use some of its surplus to give a boost to local governments.

"The state is sitting on $4.9 billion that they will not release to the cities," he said. "And they've got their fingers in everything."

In 2023, a compromise between Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the GOP-controlled state Legislature tied state aid for local governments to state sales tax revenue. It's a complex formula that favored some communities over others.

The subject of wheel taxes is one being debated by lawmakers in Madison. State Rep. Dave Maxey (R-New Berlin) recently circulated a bill that would require a referendum in order to maintain or introduce local wheel taxes.

People at Thursday's meeting said it was an insult to even consider placing one of the state's highest fees on a working-class community.

"You're penalizing the people who gave their faith and confidence to you to be their protectors," Diana Zielinski said. "Not to spit in their faces by being irresponsible."

In the end, the people got their way. The council first voted 3-2 in favor of stripping the wheel tax out of the proposed fee schedule. 

Then, in a unanimous vote, the five alderpersons voted to table the entire measure. They'll come back after taking another look at the existing fees and seeing if any of those can be increased.

Jankowski said Cudahy is also seriously considering merging services with neighboring communities. That includes a consolidation of health departments and emergency dispatch operations, which has previously been on the table.

He added he also wants to explore other mergers, including combining fire departments with South Shore neighbors, St. Francis and South Milwaukee.