When Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele put county taxpayers on the hook for $80 million for the Bucks arena, he wanted to come up with the $4 million annually by going after the county’s bad debt. This so-called bad debt is delinquent property taxes from the suburbs—the City of Milwaukee collects its own overdue property taxes—as well as court fees. It sounds like a reasonable idea; suburban residents should pay their property taxes like everyone else does. The problem is that it is much more complicated with these delinquencies arising from such emergencies like major medical procedures and huge out-of-pocket payments that essentially bankrupt individuals.
Once examined, Abele’s bad debt scheme was so bad that it had to be pulled from the Bucks arena funding bill and subsequent county board hearings revealed that the county already collects 95% of its delinquent property taxes, which it uses as revenue, and that there’s not enough bad debt to cover $80 million over 20 years. Abele could have learned all of that and perhaps come up with a better plan if he’d consulted the independent county comptroller, but he didn’t.
Now Abele’s bad debt collection scheme is back—with a vengeance.
On Tuesday, an Assembly committee heard AB 885, which would require Milwaukee County—and only Milwaukee County—to allow the state to collect the county’s bad debt and impose higher fees on the debtors. It’s Abele’s old scheme, but as a standalone bill. An amended version passed the committee 9-4 and will likely be taken up by the full Assembly on Thursday.
Aiding and abetting Abele are the bill’s authors, state Rep. Josh Zepnick (D-Milwaukee), who received a $500 campaign contribution from Abele; state Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), who received $1,000 from Abele in November and withdrew her co-sponsorship on Tuesday; state Rep. Dan Knodl (R-Germantown), who doesn’t live in Milwaukee County, but consistently supported legislation to usurp Milwaukee’s local control; and state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), who’s largely responsible for getting Abele’s power-grabbing bills passed swiftly in the Republican-dominated Legislature.
Abele’s bad debt scheme isn’t in the best interests of cash-strapped Milwaukee suburbanites, who are already settling their debts with the county to a high degree of compliance. This appears to be just another example of Abele pushing this bill because he lost a battle last year in the Legislature and he can’t seem cope with anyone saying no to him. Abele’s bill should be shot down and the sponsoring legislators should be ashamed of themselves for enabling his latest tantrum.
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