Since that check came in, I love it when you talk to me.
My cash machine.
My cash machine.
I love it when you talk to me.
My cash machine.
My cash machine.
Since that check came in, don't you know I got that back?
I got that back.
And best believe my mama's straight.
My mama's straight.
I sent some bands to Tatiana.
And if I brought you out, I'd pay you way.
I got the second set of goldens these ones way more colder I'm in the sky like all the time and now it's snow lay over My records all across the way then there was no payola This money knew these hunnids blue I'm talking no crayola My credit card
brown
do
I were two with the grapevine crew Ray Nitty DJ brother Z how y'all feeling man live on the award winning one on one seven the truth The American
Family Assurance Studios.
Hey, the timing on this song was so cold for so many reasons that you don't even understand, brother Z. This song is by Dram, right?
I literally just sold like $500 worth of Dram stock.
Like right before I sat down.
Like this brother is cold.
He I thought you was looking at my phone for a second when you pick that song I've been pulling money out the market y'all putting it on the sideline waiting for I Think is an economic crash that's about to happen I'm just waiting for other for better entry points to get back into the market.
So it's not like I'm taking it out and you know about to go
on Water Street.
I'm just preparing, moving, positioning, repositioning my finances.
And I got a small account I'm growing.
I'm trying to grow it, man.
I'm trying to be disciplined, constantly put into the market every month, you know, waiting for the right time to get into the market.
So I don't got to deal with, you know,
What the city is dealing with, trying to figure out this budget stuff.
So in this second hour.
Of the grapevine, y'all, we're going to be getting to the juice of it.
What actually got cut to close this gap in 2026?
And I hope we prepare for more cuts out to three years.
They say in something.
Big is going to happen economically in the next three years.
We got three years to prep.
That's why I'm taking the stock market a little bit more serious.
See, I was being real reckless in the stock market, just not really paying attention, not taking profits and getting greedy.
So you end up losing.
So now I'm just trying to do it the right way.
We're gonna also talk about what the 2027 budget could look like.
I am going to predict more cuts.
I'm gonna predict more cuts.
It's just my thoughts.
We're gonna talk about how City Resources are actually distributed this hour as well.
Cool?
So what got cut?
Once again, you know, I love to let y'all know how we fact-checked this.
And this is confirmed via Urban Milwaukee, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, and the city's own executive budget service.
So we're not just pulling this from the Internet.
This is from, well, I guess technically we are pulling it from the Internet.
But we're not just pulling this from BASAP.
On top of the hundred.
Point nine million dollar core gap.
The city had to cut at least 20 million more.
From department requests specifically to comply with the state's expenditure restraint incentive program.
Without those cuts, Milwaukee would have forfeited nine
0.8 million in separate conditional state aid.
So it wasn't optional.
Imagine that.
They're like, I need you to cut $20 million before you lose $9 million.
I don't think I don't get it.
If you don't make this $20 million in cut, I'm not giving you nine.
I'd rather just keep the damn $20 million.
Keep the nine.
But I guess that's why I ain't down there over no budgets.
So what the mayor initially proposed cutting.
Library hours took the biggest visible public hit.
The mayor's proposed budget eliminated Sunday hours added in 2024.
At the Tippie canoe and Good Hope branches.
With an earlier budget cycle, having floated 31 eliminated library positions and temporary King Drive library closure.
The fire department's pace of increasing daily minimum staffing was proposed to slow relative to 2024-2025 increases, even as Milwaukee Fire Department separately pushed for more funding to replace an agent vehicle fleet.
I feel like our fire department should have the most money.
They did the first ones on the scene.
Avalanche, EMTs first, like, come on.
Administrant CPR.
I'm not saying police officers don't do this work.
I'm not saying they don't care
about
I'm just saying.
I feel like the fire department gets treated like the stepchild.
And in my opinion, they're the most important ones.
It's just my opinion.
What the Common Council restored?
Before we talk about what they restored, it's like, how do we expect firefighters to do their job with old equipment?
How do we expect it?
I remember one point we were closing.
Fire departments now never understood it But the comic council's finance committee led by Alder woman Marina Dimitrovich passed a 56 amendment omnibus package that Restored and expanded library.
I will look at that.
Look at you, Marina saving tip of canoe
Good Hope Sunday hours and adding new Sunday hours at MLK and Mitchell branches by mid-2020.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay, Marina.
I rock with that.
The final package added city worker pay raises, expanded down payment assistance and eviction legal representation funding and purchased additional fire trucks.
Look at that.
Funded through a less than 1% additional property tax increase beyond the mayor's original proposal.
The council adopted its amended budget 13-1-1, meaning one abstained, on November 7th, 2025, Mayor Johnson then voted several council additions and a rare notable rebuke.
The entire council voted to override every single one of his veto.
Ah, that's why voting is important, y'all.
Damn, they overrided everything.
Alderman Scott Spiker tried to eliminate all funding for the hop outright.
Hi, Scott.
Hi, Spiker.
That failed but a scaled back amendment passed directing the Public Works Commissioner to develop an actual fair collection plan over Alderman Bowman's objection that collection fares would cost more than it generates.
This makes no sense.
So why did you push for it, Bob?
Why did you push for something that will cost more than it could actually generate?
That makes no sense.
That's the leadership we got, though.
That's who's over the entertainment district.
That's who's responsible for bringing new ideas and things like that to our downtown entertainment district.
Anywho.
The honest summary.
2026 wasn't.
The city quietly absorbing painful cuts.
It was a real public fight when a council pushed back hard on the marriage proposed cuts and largely won.
I could get behind that.
They're probably like, man, ain't nobody using the libraries anyway.
But we still want them open.
You know, why could some people use the Wi-Fi?
Kids use the Wi-Fi.
I've definitely seen young people sitting outside on the bench outside of the Center Street library.
After the library is closed, of course.
So I've seen.
You know.
What happened to the free Wi-Fi?
I thought we was putting up like free hot spots or something in the city.
Is that still going on?
Oh, is that something I cut to?
Anyway, it was a real public fight.
When the council pushed back hard on the mayor's proposed cuts and largely won at the cost of a modest additional tax increase Modest we'll see about that worth knowing Before assuming City Hall just rubber stamped Austerity don't go anywhere y'all when we come back
We gon' get into what the 2027 budget could actually look like.
And that's like next week, coming up after this Labor Day weekend.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
It's your boy, Ray Nitty, holding it down on the award-winning 10170
True.
what up y'all welcome back welcome
back welcome back it is your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the award-winning one-on-one seven the truth live from the American family insurance studios we on the grapevine y'all damn man this might be my last day with y'all on the grapevine
I was like in them hours.
Man, I was having a good time, man.
We got to talk about a lot though.
Nice, nice two weeks with y'all, man.
I felt like I was able to breathe and really get into some topics that was important to me.
Environmental injustice, the corridor.
Yeah, man If you're following me man, make sure you check out my Facebook page because I think we're gonna do this pop-up sale with Larry and his belongings man We talking about doing this big Sunday, maybe Sunday man depending on the weather Depending on the weather we gonna make something happen So
Want to get some of these antiques sold man a 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 is the number to dial It's feel good Friday, man.
Call us up.
What are you excited about?
What are you happy about?
What are you excited about this weekend?
What you ready to do?
What are you ready to do?
I hope everybody is having a good time, man
Just trying to educate our people, man.
Have a good time and educate us while we, you know, grow.
We talking about the money.
What the 2027 budget could actually look like.
So, Mayor Johnson held a public.
This had to be.
Oh, OK, OK, OK.
Mary Johnson held a public budget open house at Zablaki and Atkinson libraries this summer specifically to gather residents input before the September 22 release.
OK, so September 22 is when it's coming out.
Said next week, I'm a little early.
Wisconsin policy.
Forms own 2026 brief flagged.
Directly the city would likely face greater challenges in the coming.
I told y'all man I Told y'all Why because things only got more expensive and we didn't Create ways to generate any additional revenue and guess what Yanis is no longer here So that economical boosts
that we had is gone.
We better pray the Brewers win the World Series.
We better pray the Brewers win the World Series.
They better do it.
I hope y'all listen to the Sherwin Show.
You better think about tolls.
I'm sorry, Mekwan.
You got to drive through the community if you want to avoid these tolls.
Eat Green Bay.
County line road 76th Street 60th Go explore the neighborhood, but put these tollways up man I Pay toes to go to Chicago To go to my to go see my doctors get my prescriptions
And the taxes that we lose to our neighboring cities, because other folks like myself have to go see their doctors and other neighbor neighboring cities.
We don't do anything creative to generate revenue, man.
All we do is raise taxes, cut jobs, raise taxes, cut jobs, raise taxes.
Raise the wheel tax, raise the county tax, raise the city tax.
Just raise it.
Wisconsin policy forums own.
Flagged this directly, the city will likely face greater challenges in the coming years.
Driven by continued pension.
wage and benefit growth with 2027 being the last of three years of the elevated 116 million annual borrowing surge.
The mayor announced in the 2025 budget.
Cost of form specifically flagged are likely to resurface.
It's going to resurface.
It's going to resurface.
Bare minimum, I'm going to assume.
They try to at least.
Match, not drastically exceed.
The previous gaps.
We can't borrow our money on the NPD contract adds a new wrinkle for the 2027 specifically.
And I don't know if y'all seen the guy who's the president of the police.
He's been working.
He's been working.
It's like he's doing his job.
He's doing his job for us like making sure he gets what he needs for his police officers He had all the means he's like, you know, it's just You know it's just Whatever We don't have enough fun, that's what they say on time.
Okay, we don't have enough fun.
We need to hire more cops
It's like the same argument.
It's the same argument.
We don't have enough funds.
We need to hire more.
We don't have enough.
We need to hire more.
They don't say we don't have enough.
We need to hire more, but we're not doing the rest of a job.
Put up the tolls.
I'm with it.
Let's talk Chicago.
They coming in for these brewers games.
They coming in for these Chicago games.
They coming in for Summerfest.
They coming in for all of these other things.
Mac won.
I'm sorry.
They coming in here to work.
Tearing up the roads.
Sure.
100% right.
I've been said we should be told we should have tolls.
Lock the city down all tolls.
Then you want to impress me?
Give the people from the city of Milwaukee a free damn toll pass.
So when we driving
out of the city because we pay enough taxes here.
We just get to, you know, we don't get flocked for it.
With the 2026 raises locked in and no additional increases scheduled beyond the.
three point two five at the start of the year, a new police labor agreement will likely need to be negotiated for twenty twenty seven and beyond.
So this is going to be real good.
A real recurring cost pressure point.
Because we always got it.
We don't have to figure it out.
We can't just.
Say to hell with them.
Structurally.
Structurally, the Milwaukee, no.
Structurally, Milwaukee is unlikely to gain a new tool, any new tools as sizable as Act 12 anytime soon.
Expected 2027 to be balanced through the same limited toolkit.
Reserve draws, sale tax, last shared revenue growth, departmental.
Belt tightening and modest fee slash tax increases, not a new major revenue source.
We have no real revenue source.
We just lost our prize in Yanis.
They're gonna say violence is down, is up downtown, so nobody wants to go downtown.
They're gonna blame it all on violence.
They ain't gonna blame it on bad budgeting.
They're gonna blame it on the trauma of the community overspilling into downtown.
I'm telling y'all, I wish I could bet this on Kalshee, expect another meaningful budget gap.
Another round of proposed library and service trims.
Most likely we're going to have a renewed police and fire contract.
They got to have separate budgets, right?
I wish we would have separated it.
I wish I would have separated it and actually highlight the fire contract.
Gotta get Jared in on the show Gotta get the homie Jared on the show man to talk about maybe him and maybe we could get him in the fire chief To come in man.
I would love to talk to them About the work that they do the support that they need and what does this 2027 budget could look like for them All right But I'm saying this y'all expect another meaningful budget gap
All right.
Gonna be a lot of contract pressures in another Common Council fight to restore at least some of the cuts.
That's been the consistent pattern for three straight budget cycles.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
When we come back, we will get into how CD resources are actually distributed right here on the award winning.
One on one, seven to
truth.
What up?
What up?
What up?
What up?
What up?
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
What it do?
What it do?
What it do?
It's the grapevine crew, man.
We talking about the Milwaukee County, not Milwaukee County, the Milwaukee City budget, because there's a difference.
It's a huge difference.
Laurent Taylor, what up, man?
He says, put up toes to come into the city and put up toes to come out.
Absolutely.
Let's do it.
They gon' say, oh, it costs too much money to put it up.
That's what they gon' say.
He also says, all the police have to do is show a video of State Fair, Water Street, and Brady Street, and the police will get their money.
But they can't show a video of State Fair, because that's West Dallas police.
And I'll be damned if West Dallas police get a piece of ours.
All right?
But.
You also says I know you saw the Tom Tiffany commercial Do you want David Crowley to bring this to the rest of the state showing the black kids to stay fair?
Absolutely, but it's funny because it lets you know they really don't have nothing on Crowley They really don't have nothing on crowd They really don't I don't know if I've seen this before
You know they when they had the Mandela as is like Mandela Barnes too radical for Wisconsin Yeah, they can't even use that play They can't even use that play But
A 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 is the number to dial.
We are about to talk about how the city resources are actually distributed.
All right.
Fact checked by the Urban Institute's neighborhood investment flows in the city of Milwaukee.
Report.
H MDA slash census data 2005 2019 and the city's own 2023.
disparity study.
All right.
So here's the core findings.
Majority white centrist census tracts received an average of 8,696 in total investment per household per year.
Majority black tracts received just 4,239, less than half
a 2.1 time gap, majority Latino tracks receive even less.
3,584, a 2.4 time gap.
All right.
By poverty level rather than race.
Let's talk about that.
By poverty level rather than race.
High poverty neighborhoods received 5,000
and $61 per household per year versus 7,961 in low poverty neighborhoods, a smaller 1.6 gap, meaning race predicts investment disparity even more strongly than income alone.
Geographically, investment concentrates
downtown along the lakefront and along the I-94 corridor with a noticeable absence of investment activity across broad stretches of the North and South sides.
The same areas that are majority, what?
Black and majority, what?
Latino.
We just talked about this, y'all.
Those same areas have a high.
Very high.
Abandoned warehouse factory.
Right.
It's just a core finders of how actual resources are distributed in the city.
We talking about, oh, who gonna get their roads fixed?
Who gonna?
Come on now.
Come on now.
Who makes those calls though?
Who's the person?
That decides, okay.
30 second and center.
It's time to fix y'all road.
33rd and center, it's time to fix y'all road.
34th, it's time to.
Like them streets is insane over there.
Who makes that call?
I don't obviously the other man got to do but who signs off on it?
So why this matters?
For the budget conversation at least This data covers private capital like mortgages and business lending, right?
More than just like
direct city spending.
But it is the environment city budget decisions operate inside.
When library hours or eviction legal aid get cut or restored in neighborhoods already receiving half the private investment of.
Wealthy areas the stakes are structurally higher Okay Just sharing with y'all man.
I'm just sharing some things with y'all That's all
Historical context, Reggie Jackson.
Of America's Black Holocaust Museum has noted.
Milwaukee's black medium, median family income was roughly 50,000.
Today's dollar 50 years ago, 50 years ago.
Think about that.
Near the seventh highest in the nation for black families today, it's under 28.
thousand with black poverty now 39% above the national average a complete reversal driven by manufacturing job loss suburban flight and reduced north side reinvestment and I will also say.
I will also say remediation.
Because we allowed all them manufacturing jobs to just leave.
We allowed them to just leave.
We didn't hold them accountable.
We didn't create no environmental fund that they had to annually pay in.
That's what I would have done.
Come do some business here, but you gotta give you 10%, man.
Something five.
annual.
This ain't no one time thing.
Every year you hear, you got to kick in because when you leave, when you leave and thank you for the jobs that you brought to the community, I appreciate it, but the everlasting effect of poison.
has way greater impact on our people in the long term.
Because guess what?
Warehouse gone, city decreased, people moved out, neighborhood identity goes down, abandoned warehouse now, breeding ground for nefarious activities.
But we didn't hold them accountable.
They made billions of dollars, your master locks, your bricks and stratens, your Bostics, and was able to just leave.
And then we have all of these stats.
We got all this data.
We just talked about it.
But anyway, we'll tie everything back.
segment two and three, right?
Every library hours fight and every eviction assistance line item is playing out on top of a documented decades.
Long private investment gap city government didn't create and can't fully fix alone.
But the 2023 disparity study and 2020 equity ordinance are at least a formal legally grounded starting point to actually track and address.
This injustice in city contracting specifically.
Don't go anywhere.
When we come back, we're going to close this thing out.
We're going to close this thing out, y'all.
Hope y'all having a good time, man.
It is Friday.
It's Friday.
I want us to think about money as we go into the weekend.
You just got paid.
I want you to think about your money, because we about to have another budget deficit for 2027.
I'm just waiting to hear what the number is.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
This is the award-winning
10170True.
Told me I was great, knew I was supposed to be that If you seer walking with me, then she overly bad Like when your momma bring the groceries, n***a go get the bag, yeah
Put on for your family going by the block invested in the business go get you some stock I ain't these rappers teaching youngest to crash out I teach him to win big then going cash out can't stop now won't stop last time I check I'm ten toes down run it up and then invest I'm looking in the mirror really him be know my chest then look at my agenda like what's next
What's next, y'all?
Welcome back.
Sounds like the wave, man.
Wave might be one of my favorite artists in the sea.
I just love how that brother grew.
Like I remember when waves pills in a crew.
That's how old I am.
He was like a teenager still if I'm not mistaken.
Boy, I've been doing this thing, man.
Super, super, super dope artist.
Shout out to Wave.
What's next, y'all?
We talking about closing this thing out.
We just talking about closing this out, man, as we get ready to enter this 2027 budget.
What's up, Cousins?
You ready?
As we get ready to enter this 20.
27 budget.
It's a couple things I want us to think about.
Not only the city budget, but our own personal finances as well for our community, for ourselves, for our family.
Let's get real serious about organizing our money.
Let's get real serious about being fiscally responsible.
I'm talking about myself too.
I'm talking about myself, but I'm hoping that in talking about myself.
That it inspires other people to want to do the same because we need To get on the same page because we know we represent what almost two trillion dollars in buying power We got Dante Andrew Ward on the line, how you doing Dante you live on the grapevine.
I'm not done to them doctor doctor Doctor Andrew Ward
I apologize.
I was just reading it off the screen.
I apologize, doctor.
Yes, sir.
That needs to be heard.
Yes, sir.
You are on the topic that we really, really, really need.
And I really have a concept, not like your president, of financial literacy.
I call it money handling.
I'm going to hit you with a couple of big things.
that hardly anybody else addresses.
The national debt is about $40 trillion.
$40
And it's raising, it's increasing every day and not because we are buying new services or products.
It's on the interest, the finance charges.
And that's the same thing that's happening with homes.
People are buying cars.
and the finance charges, putting them underwater before they sign the line.
And the same thing with the home.
If you take a 30-year mortgage, you're not paying on the house till you pay 25 years.
So all you pay in the finance charges, which is the same as rent.
And I've been sharing this with everybody I know, and I want them to get it and share it.
What I want you to do, since you're on that subject, is I want to have a talk with you.
so you can spread it, because you seem to be the only person I've talked to that's really interested.
You have a good one, Doctor.
talk to you first, because I think you can spread it better than I can.
sir.
Appreciate you for
Appreciate you, doctor.
Shouts out to Dr. Ward, y'all.
Dr. Ward calling in, sharing some information and knowledge.
You know, we talked about our debt on here before.
And I think we touched the surface, but not as deeply as he just did and went into, that's only the interest.
Imagine that.
That's just the interest.
We're paying down on the actual debt.
So.
The through line across all five of these segments, you know, we get ready to close this out, I promise you.
Milwaukee's budget isn't a story of careless spending or simple villains.
We'll see.
I think we got a little bit of careless spending.
Careless demands is a city with almost no independent revenue tools after we just lost our biggest revenue booster.
Legally mandated to grow police slash fire spending, sitting on top of pension system with rising costs, trying to serve neighborhoods that have received less than half.
the private investment of wealthier areas for two decades and running.
I told y'all I got here when I was 14.
I told y'all, I thought I was lying.
And when I was 14, 15 years old, they said, just wait.
The investment will reach the north side.
Just wait.
The investment was going, then I turned, what's 10 years after?
25.
They said, just wait.
The investment is coming.
The investment will reach the North side.
Tom Barrett told us that a whole 18 years he was mayor.
How the hell long he been mayor?
Just wait.
North side is coming.
Milwaukee is coming.
Then I turned 35.
Just wait.
Milwaukee investment is coming to the North side.
I'm 42 years old now.
And we decided not to wait.
We put 77 million dollars of investment on the north side of Milwaukee on Center Street in the old Briggs and Stratton site that was left abandoned.
Right across the street from Master Lock, which now sits abandoned and for auction.
Contaminated sites.
When we don't wait and invest.
They do like Tulsa.
They do like Central Park before it was Central Park.
Find ways to tear it down, make it difficult, make it unachievable, unattainable.
All right.
No independent revenue tools, none.
Just taxes.
Just, no, we don't even take advantage of the hemp.
Here, we don't take advantage of it.
Why don't we, the city of Milwaukee should at least, bare minimum, we should have had our own testing facility.
All these hemp licenses, nobody's really doing this to, like why we don't have our own testing and make it, oh my God, do I gotta think for everybody?
The way we allow all these stores to just sell the head like do I got to think for everybody?
The real lever residents actually have.
The Common Council's 26 fight proved public pressure works.
Library hours got.
that got cut were restored specifically because residents and older persons pushed back hard.
The same window opens again this fall with the 2027 budget process starting with public hearing before September 22nd release and continuing through the Common Council's amendment process in October.
We got till October to get on the same page.
I'm gonna be studying for a test though.
I got a test coming up in October that I'm studying for.
I gotta schedule my test date actually.
I'm studying for something in my Masonic journey.
Maybe we had a grand come up next week, man.
Talk to some folks.
Grand and grand lies come through, man.
Let's turn truth up real quick.
Show them how we get out.
Talk about Prince Hall Masonry.
What it does for the community.
Think that'd be an amazing conversation to have I'ma close this out y'all so whatever Whatever the 2027 proposal looks like Whatever it looks like The Common Council's public hearings are the actual venue
where a 20 to $30 million line items get restored or cut.
It's not no civic lesson I'm teaching.
It's the same room where Library Sunday hours got saved last year.
Probably the same room.
They just turned it up and had an amazing event.
Look at what Milwaukee Rap did.
Brought way more people to the library than I think the library's ever seen.
Even free books didn't bring that many people out to the library.
I got a quote I'ma close and leave y'all with.
It's by Booker T. Washington.
All right.
And this show was for or about where Citi chooses to put its money.
Where?
Budgets are just values written down in numbers.
The quote is, if you want to lift yourself up,
Up someone else by Booker T. Washington.
Thank you all.
That is my time.
Sray Nitty signing out on the award-winning.
One on one, seven to truth.
This is the grapevine.
Y'all has been good.
You may or may not see me next week on the grapevine.
We'll see.
We got a surprise for y'all coming up next, Ms.
Jazz Tyler.
Next week, we got another surprise for y'all.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
It's the award-winning one on one, seven to truth.
What up, y'all?
What up?
What up?
What up?
What up?
What up?
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
What it do?
Man, it's your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the grapevine.
DJ Brother Z holding us down on the production and sound.
How y'all doing, man?
We talking about that money today.
We talking about that city budget.
It's coming up.
The city budget is coming up.
833-212.
1017, how would you spend $2 billion?
How would you spend $2 billion?
How would you do it?
833-212.
1017 is the number to dial.
833-212.
1017 is the number to dial.
Please like, subscribe, share.
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Check us out, man.
One on one seven the truth on YouTube and you can follow me on Facebook.
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Pick up your phone.
Pull over though.
Don't do it and drive.
Pick up your phone.
Pull over.
Get somewhere safe.
Follow the lunch break.
Follow the truth.
Follow Ray nitty R. A. Y. N. I. T. T. I get involved with the conversation on YouTube as well.
Join the chat.
Join the chat, man.
Share your thoughts, share your truth.
It's Friday.
How y'all feeling?
It's feel good Friday.
If you just got something that you're proud of, something that you want to shout out, call us up.
833-212-1017.
It's all about y'all today, man, and y'all money, our taxes.
We want to talk about the Milwaukee City budget.
It's that time of year again, y'all.
Well, we gonna figure out what is going on with the money.
Today, we want to talk about how the $2 billion budget actually breaks down.
Well, I feel like somebody banging on the door.
I'm hearing drumming.
We'll talk about how the $2 million budget actually breaks down.
Where General City spending actually goes, the type of costs, structural squeeze driving nearly every budget fight.
Then we want to talk about police and fire is the single biggest line item.
The singles biggest line item.
You want to talk about the raw numbers and PD's budget.
All right.
We want to talk about why this keeps growing.
Even as officer here kind of doesn't.
Because the number keeps rising, but.
The amount of officers seem in Lee shrinks.
So we're going to talk about that.
We want to talk about the pension driver underneath all of it as well.
And we also want to talk about the political history worth knowing surrounding this.
All right.
Then we want to also talk about what actually got cut to close the gap.
for 2026.
Okay.
And what the 2027 budget could look like?
I don't know if y'all ever like took the time to look at a city budget.
I'm bad, y'all.
I'm sitting here reading that the judge declares a mistrial in the Lindsey Clancy case.
Huh.
They're going to have to do it all over again.
What the 2027 budget could actually look like, y'all.
How would you spend two billion dollars?
That's the question today.
What would you do?
Somebody like a food store behind Needing dough, what is going on?
And then we want to talk about how the city resources are actually distributed.
All right
OK.
Why it matters because it does.
I whatever they was doing stopped now because that was driving me crazy.
We're going to be talking about a lot of this, y'all, but let's get back into the top of it.
All right.
833-212-1017.
That's the number to dial.
833-212-1017 is the number to dial.
I think next week is when the budget is being discussed or presented.
If I'm not mistaken.
So we'll see.
Well, let's get it to it.
Everything is fact checked and confirmed via the city of Milwaukee's own 2026 executive budget summary and Mayor Johnson's public budget materials.
OK, this is 26.
Let's be clear.
We ain't got 27 yet.
Well, I think we see that next week.
But let's get it to it.
Milwaukee's total city budget right now.
It's around two billion dollars.
Two billion dollars.
Damn, what are we doing with two billion dollars, you might ask?
Where does it go?
Where does all this dang on money go?
Why we don't have enough of it?
Why it seems like things ain't getting done.
What's really happening?
But the truth is Nearly half of it none I have nearly 500 million of that Just about a quarter quarter of the budget It supports self-funded utilities that's like
our water and sewer.
Remember that large contract that we was talking about that that company was going to be getting?
That's money that we don't even have.
It has to.
We can't do anything about it.
We can't redirect it to any other city needs.
All right.
is money that legally can't be redirected to other city needs.
Hundreds of millions more are already committed to pensions and debt payments before a single discretionary dollar gets debated.
I'm just trying to break down the aspect of the city budget.
Why are we so broke here?
Why we don't got no funds to do anything here?
All right.
So 500 million goes to self-funded utilities like water and sewer.
We can't redirect 500 million.
It has to go there.
All right.
So a quarter of the budget.
Don't even think.
Don't worry about it.
Hundreds of millions more already committed to pensions and debt payments before a single discretionary dollar gets debated, meaning the portion of the two billion actually up for real political fights each year is a fraction of the top line number.
So we got to understand that we ain't working with.
Two billion really, when we talking about.
Yeah, that's the total amount but that ain't what we really got to Discuss debate move around whatever the case may be All right And when we come back We want to talk about where Where the general spending actually goes and we're gonna do this by the type of cost, okay?
And then, if we got enough time in that segment, we want to talk about the structural squeeze driving nearly every budget fight that we fight about today.
And I think y'all may gotta understand it.
Or idea.
You might have an idea.
But $2 billion, y'all.
Really not even $2 billion.
1.5.
Let's say that.
And that 1.5 might not even really be 1.5.
But we'll get into it right after these messages.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
You are listening to The Grapevine with Ray Nitty on the award-winning 1017 The
Truth.
I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen Oh, every time I close
eyes
I see
I'm about to prepare for when
I'm telling you.
Hey, how y'all feeling, man?
The world better prepare for when I'm a billionaire.
I'm going to do right with my m'billions, though.
I'm going to care about things like environmental justice, you know?
Preparation remediation for communities, things like that.
Making sure mental health services get to the people that really need it If I was a billionaire, that's what I would be doing, but I'm not a billionaire So we talking about what we would do if we had two billion dollars and how would we balance the city's budget?
I'm gonna tell you how to think about the budget be funny, right?
It'd be so many people that just pissed about the budget they own individual
Books don't be balanced.
My my damn books ain't even balanced.
What the hell?
I'm going to tell these people.
You're messing up two billion dollars.
Can't trust some of y'all with two hundred.
Can't bring that back.
Much less two billion.
So we're going to get into.
Where the general city spending actually goes a 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 It's the number to dial the city budget is coming up The city budget is coming up y'all And for those that May or may not know we already had a hundred million dollar deficit coming in to this year All right, so we came in down
100 million out of the billy.
So really, 600 million was pretty much already accounted for, because we had a gap to fill.
How did we close the gap?
But we'll talk about where general city spending actually goes by type of cost, personnel costs.
All right?
Salaries, wages, and benefits eat up 79.9% of general city purposes spending.
Supplies, services, and special funds account for 18.9%.
Equipment purchases just 1.2%.
This is a single most important number.
In the whole budget nearly four out of every five general purpose dollars is a one person not a program or a purchase Why is that you may ask because personnel is the overwhelming cost driver Okay City staffing levels matter enormously Having the right
Staff to run our city government the 2026 budget authorized 7,800 7,818 positions Which was down from 121 from 2025 Even as specific departments police fire, you know, we're mandated to grow
under state law, meaning other departments absorbed the reduction.
I feel like police and fire get lumped in too much because I don't know.
I feel like I. Give our fire department.
The 300 million.
That's how I feel.
Give our fire department that paper.
Just a thought.
You know, but who am I?
I'm just an entertainer.
Fire police were mandated to grow under state law, meaning other departments absorbed the reduction.
So here's.
The like what they say is the juice worth to squeeze.
Here's a squeeze driving nearly every budget fight that we have to do all the time.
All right.
Milwaukee legally.
This is just some good information to know.
Milwaukee legally cannot collect its own local income tax and the property tax levy for operations is capped by state law at a growth rate well below inflation.
Very few levers to raise money without state permission.
We have very few ways to raise money without state permission.
Which is probably even more important why it's good to have somebody as governor that maybe understand the squeeze that.
Milwaukee and Milwaukee County is going through.
I figure out new ways that.
Wisconsin can allow the city of Milwaukee and the county of Milwaukee to generate some different revenue instead of raising taxes.
But.
Twenty twenty threes, Wisconsin's Act 12 created a new two percent city sales tax city.
Sales tax and boosted state shared revenue.
A loan rose from two hundred and nineteen million, two hundred and nineteen point six million in twenty twenty three to two hundred and fifty four point five million in twenty twenty six.
Now indexed to statewide inflation.
combined with the two thousand twenty six sale tax hall of two hundred and six point two million.
This is well over four hundred million in annual money that simply didn't exist before twenty twenty three.
And we paid it's like, of course, it didn't exist because you weren't charging us for it.
You didn't raise our duh.
Of course it didn't exist.
But you know the logic, they'd be like, well, our sales tax is so much lower than everybody.
Well, that's a blessing.
That's not a reason to raise it.
That's why we like it here.
When you hear two billion Milwaukee budget, that does not mean two billion of choices.
Yeah Most of it is already spoken for by pensions debt utilities and mandated staffing costs All right The real fight
That we getting ready.
I'm telling you, it's going to be a good one, too.
If you ever really like got into it and watch these budget hearings, it gets good.
It gets good.
People start trying to take other things away and be like, well, I want this for me.
I need this.
Let's get good.
You got to you got to check it out.
And then imagine the deals that get made when the cameras are.
Man.
I guess good.
If you let me get this amount of money from this district and this project, I'll be OK with this.
But when you hear two billion dollar Milwaukee budget, that does not mean two billion dollars worth of choices.
Most of it is already spoken for pensions, debt, utilities, mandated staffing costs.
The real fight every fall is over a much smaller.
Much more contested slice fighting over the smaller slice.
And all of that slices personnel cost.
OK.
How would you spend two billion dollars eight three three two one two ten seventeen?
That's the number to dial Eight three three two one two ten seventeen is the number to dial So we just went through how the budget actually broke down All right We just gave you a snapshot of how the budget actually broke down the two billion dollars
where essentially $500 million of it is already going towards self-funded utilities.
That's our water, our sewer system, things like that.
We can't redirect it.
Hundreds of millions more go to already committed pensions, plan, and debt that we have.
All right?
So the two billion ain't two billion.
And we gonna see what the number really is at this next budget.
And remember, we was down 100 million going into this year.
I am going to guess.
Because this was actually also stated in the last budget.
We gonna face another deficit.
And I think that's why a lot of people were skeptical about raising the taxes because it was like, all right, that only addresses the problem temporarily.
What happens in the long term when we face another deficit?
So I'm gonna wait To see and I want to understand how did we make that last hundred million dollars?
Or how much of it was made up or is it just still a deficit we never made it up We talked about
What is spending went?
All right But when we come back from break we gonna dig a little deeper into The police and fire which is the single biggest line item On this list And I'm not here to say all abolished police and I'm not gonna sit here and say that absolutely not that's not my
That's not my ministry.
I think we need to take a look at how the resources are being used.
But don't go anywhere, y'all.
When we come back, we'll get into the conversation about the police and fire budget line item and how dominant it has been for the two billion dollars that we have in the city budget.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
It's your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the grapevine on the award winning one on one seven, the truth.
What up, y'all?
Welcome back.
It's your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the grapevine.
Brother Z holding this down with the production and sound.
How y'all feeling, man?
It is Friday.
It's payday for some of y'all.
What would you do with...
Two billion dollars What would you do it How would you spend two billion dollars man a 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 is the number to dial.
How would you spend it?
We about to get into how Milwaukee spends it Diving into one of the largest line items One of the largest line items
in the budget, which is police and fire.
Fact check once again by Urban Milwaukee, WPR, Fox six and the Wisconsin policy forms, dedicated police funding analysis.
This is where the information was researched from.
Just so y'all have, you know, beside our sources here.
So what I like to do at least.
I want nobody thinking that I'm just talking like I'm just this expert.
I did research and I'm sharing.
Information that I found.
And that's what we supposed to do as a community.
You get educated and then you share it.
All right.
MPD's budget alone, this is just Milwaukee Police Department's budget alone is 310 million.
In 2026, which was up.
From 270 million in 2024.
And 283 million in 2023.
Well, the first I had never seen where the budget went down for them.
That's roughly half of the city's total general fund departmental appropriations appropriations in a single department.
From 2015 to 2020 alone, Milwaukee's budgeted police operations spending grew 48.
point eight million dollars.
Nineteen point six percent.
Nearly all of it.
Nearly all, not all, but nearly all.
Ninety four point six.
Of total department spending to be exact.
Going to salaries, wages and benefits.
even as the actual number of sworn officers on the street declined over the same period.
I want y'all to sit with that for a second.
94.6%
going to salaries, wages, and benefits, even as the actual number of sworn officers on the street declined over that same period.
This is from 2015 to 2020.
94.6.
Not equipment.
Not...
Technology.
Not.
Community outreach or community programs or no.
And I say people shouldn't get paid.
I mean, let me say that, too.
I'm not saying police officers shouldn't get paid.
But I ask a question, right?
I might get in trouble for this question.
And I'm OK with police.
I have no problem with the police.
But I do got a problem when.
We've made it a practice to reward poor performance with more money.
And I'm not saying nobody ain't doing a job.
But I am saying.
I'm not mistaken.
The conviction rate is that we have.
50 more than 50 percent.
Of cases go on soft.
And typically when a department or a company or.
Consolidate whoever Typically if they do not perform They do not move the needle if they do not Result in change or progress Oh Very rare you hear them say well we just need more money And that's why and then you do it again next year.
It's because we didn't have enough money to hear before
So we need more money.
So we do it again next year.
We don't say, hey, hold on now.
What are we doing?
What are the last money go towards?
How did you use that?
Why this keeps growing even as officer headcount doesn't 2011.
Act 10, stripped collective bargaining for most public employees.
Well, Charlie, this is how long they been plotting and working on.
It's just they strip away, strip away, strip away.
2011, Act 10, stripped collective bargaining for most public employees, but specifically excluded.
police and fire unions, meaning those departments retained real bargaining leverage that most other city departments lost.
I can understand.
We don't need our police and fire department losing leverage and.
Bargaining, you know, because what?
What?
What?
What?
You can't put a price on safety.
Right safety is priceless.
I'd imagine that's what they say in them.
Safety is priceless.
I'd imagine that's their argument, right?
And it's very compelling.
It's a very compelling argument.
Safety is priceless.
But at what cost?
At what cost?
The newly ratified MPD police contract covering 2023 to 2026 backdated includes wage increases compounding to 15% by early 2026 with 2026 officer pay ranger from 77,000 to 104,000.
It passed with 87% union approval, but still needs common counsel sign off given the cost.
2023's Act 12, the same law that gave Milwaukee its sale tax lifeline came with a mandate attached.
The city must increase police and fire sworn staffing levels as a condition of the deal.
The mayor's 2026 budget funds three full police recruit classes, 65 recruits each.
specifically to try to meet the mandate.
Alderman Marina Dimitrovich blunt framing captures the real trade-off.
It's a question about the future and what kind of city.
When we make investments somewhere, we're naturally taking from something else.
That sounded cool Marina.
Still don't trust her.
The pension driver When we come back we're gonna talk about the pension driver underneath it all right because The 2026 budget gap started at eighty eight point three million Okay Started at eighty eight point three million
Then it jumped to a hundred point nine million after the city's pension system Actually delivered updated obligation numbers in June 2025 a single pension Recalculation added over 12 million in required spending overnight 12 million overnight
Sheesh.
We're going to talk about it, y'all.
Don't go anywhere because we're going to talk about.
The political history that's worth knowing when it comes down to this.
All right.
Because it's a little history.
It's a little history.
When we come back We'll talk about it cuz in June 2020 something happened.
Do you know what it
was?
What up?
What up?
What up?
Welcome.
Welcome.
Welcome.
Welcome back to the grapevine.
You are now locked in with your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the award-winning 10170 Truth Live from the American Family Insurance Studios.
What to do, man?
We talking about that money.
Talking about a billion dollars, man.
Talking about a billion dollars.
A real billion, not a fake one.
A real billion.
How does money get moved around, y'all?
Okay.
We talked about the pension driver underneath all of it.
2026 budget gap started with 88.3 million.
Then jumped to 109 million after the city's pension system.
Delivered updated obligation numbers in June 2025.
A single pension recalculation added over 12 million in required spending overnight.
I wish I could find a required 12 million in savings overnight.
So I could invest it Straight up I'm looking at the stock market right now September is usually historical down month.
So I'm like selling shares waiting for What may happen, but I'm trying to you know, get some decent profits and then pull out Don't want to pause pause
I don't want Jesus.
I don't want to take a loss on it.
I don't want to take a loss on it.
But.
Talking about the city money still.
This is the same dynamic driving library cuts, service reductions and tax increases across the whole budget.
Police, fire, staffing mandates, and pension obligations are effectively fixed costs.
The city has little short-term control over it.
So nearly all flexibility gets squeezed out of everything else.
Shout out to Big Frank and Mando and them that did the show at the libraries.
Mando?
Mando.
What'd I say, Mando?
I don't know.
Shouts out to big Frank It was amazing it was a line around the court they probably ain't never had that many young people in the library ever All races it was so full of Milwaukee rap all those people could you imagine that?
Look what happened with Milwaukee rap when you ain't over serving liquor
I wonder if the library is about to close down now.
Is the library going to be up for sale?
Shout out to them young boys, man.
We'll talk about little political history, worth, you know, knowing about this.
Because in the last segment, we said something happened in 2020.
Do we know what happened in 2020?
What historic event happened in 2020?
COVID.
That did happen.
Something else happened, too.
Something else happened, too.
In June 2020, following George Floyd's murder.
Common Council voted 13 to 2.
To direct the budget office to study a 10% cut to MPD's then $297.4 million budget.
Alderman Ashanti Hamilton's reasoning at the time, the city can't police its way into stable neighborhoods.
That study never resulted
in an actual cut.
MPD's budget has grown substantially since.
I wonder if that's why they got rid of Ashanti.
Not that I think about it.
Not that I think about it.
Not that I put some... When did Ashanti run or he was attempting to run for mayor?
Was that 2020?
So you gotta follow the money.
We say it all the time, right?
Follow the money Who got the biggest pie who trying to take piece of a pie Who who attempted to and who ain't there no more?
You get a lot of answers when you follow the bread So they did this budget study
I wonder what the study revealed.
They voted 13 to two to direct the budget office to study a 10 percent cut to MPD's then 297 million point four.
Two hundred ninety seven point four million dollars.
The city can't police its way into stable neighborhoods and it has not worked.
We just heard.
From some of the folks of the Department of Community Wellness and Safety Of how it doesn't work Well, not that you know, let me take that back.
They didn't say it didn't work.
They said there's high concentrated areas So the high concentrated areas of violence I'm wondering And I would hope so that would seem like the common sense thing right that they would do
A little more policing in that area.
Is that a fair question to ask or?
I need to stay in my entertainment box.
Because I feel like it's a fair question.
I feel like it's a fair question.
If we know.
That a certain area has high elevated.
High elevated levels of crime Do we strategically Do high level More surveillance more patrolling and do we see if that Helps I'm just asking maybe they are once again, I am neither
police officer interrupter or Anything like that So that's what we talking about That's what we are talking about The bottom line for the audience here y'all that's listening
Police and fire spending isn't growing because the city is choosing to prioritize it over libraries or housing every year.
A lot of that growth is now legally mandated by the same state law that saved Milwaukee's finances.
That's a real structural bind that's worth us understanding.
And and I got to say it's not it's not just a simple villain story in either direction.
OK, because it's easy to it's easy to just point the fingers at the police department.
It's easy to do that, right?
Oh, y'all.
Y'all doing this, y'all.
That's easy.
That's easy.
But.
They got a job to do.
Do we want them to have more training?
Yeah, we want them to have more.
Sensitive training when it comes to police in our community, right?
Seems like our community gets treated with a certain level of aggression.
Not by everybody.
Not by everybody because I don't want people to think, oh, this guy is just hard on cops.
And like, no, not at all.
I got a bunch of homies as police officers in Houston, in the Virgin Islands, in Milwaukee, in Atlanta.
But what I can say is I notice a difference in how other black populated states, highly black populated states, how the relationships with the police officers are, seems like a different tone.
It also seems like the staff matches the identity of the neighborhood.
When I'm in Houston, I see Houston cops.
I see black ones.
When I'm in Atlanta, I see Atlanta cops.
I see black ones.
When I'm in Detroit, I see black ones.
When I'm in Milwaukee, I see Polish cops.
White ones.
And I don't think people understand how much that does have a role to play.
Not saying that all this person is racist and I know it ain't that.
But culturally.
If you come from a place you would understand how to engage a little differently.
And respectfully, sometimes.
There's no amount of training
that could get you to the level of just.
Inheriting cultural competence.
Understanding neighborhoods, understanding people, knowing the people that live in the neighborhood.
That's important.
I'm not mistaken.
We also said.
City employees no longer have to live in the city of Milwaukee.
I thought we got rid of something like that.
Thought we got rid of something like that Don't go anywhere y'all when we get back we'll get in the hour two With the grapevine we talking about the city budget man Two billion dollars, how would you spend it?
When we come back we're gonna talk about what actually got cut to close the 2026 gap it was a hundred point nine million dollar core gap the city had to cut
All right.
So don't go anywhere, y'all, when we come back.
What up, y'all?
What up?
What up?
What up?
What up?
What up?
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
What it do?
Man, it's your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the grapevine.
DJ Brother Z holding us down on the production and sound.
How y'all doing, man?
We talking about that money today.
We talking about that city budget.
It's coming up.
The city budget is coming up.
833-212.
1017, how would you spend $2 billion?
How would you spend $2 billion?
How would you do it?
833-212.
1017 is the number to dial.
833-212.
1017 is the number to dial.
Please like, subscribe, share.
Make sure you follow us.
Check us out, man.
One on one seven the truth on YouTube and you can follow me on Facebook.
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Pick up your phone.
Pull over though.
Don't do it and drive.
Pick up your phone.
Pull over.
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Join the chat, man.
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It's Friday.
How y'all feeling?
It's feel good Friday.
If you just got something that you're proud of, something that you want to shout out, call us up.
833-212-1017.
It's all about y'all today, man, and y'all money, our taxes.
We want to talk about the Milwaukee City budget.
It's that time of year again, y'all.
Well, we gonna figure out what is going on with the money.
Today, we want to talk about how the $2 billion budget actually breaks down.
Well, I feel like somebody banging on the door.
I'm hearing drumming.
We'll talk about how the $2 million budget actually breaks down.
Where General City spending actually goes, the type of costs, structural squeeze driving nearly every budget fight.
Then we want to talk about police and fire is the single biggest line item.
The singles biggest line item.
You want to talk about the raw numbers and PD's budget.
All right.
We want to talk about why this keeps growing.
Even as officer here kind of doesn't.
Because the number keeps rising, but.
The amount of officers seem in Lee shrinks.
So we're going to talk about that.
We want to talk about the pension driver underneath all of it as well.
And we also want to talk about the political history worth knowing surrounding this.
All right.
Then we want to also talk about what actually got cut to close the gap.
for 2026.
Okay.
And what the 2027 budget could look like?
I don't know if y'all ever like took the time to look at a city budget.
I'm bad, y'all.
I'm sitting here reading that the judge declares a mistrial in the Lindsey Clancy case.
Huh.
They're going to have to do it all over again.
What the 2027 budget could actually look like, y'all.
How would you spend two billion dollars?
That's the question today.
What would you do?
Somebody like a food store behind Needing dough, what is going on?
And then we want to talk about how the city resources are actually distributed.
All right
OK.
Why it matters because it does.
I whatever they was doing stopped now because that was driving me crazy.
We're going to be talking about a lot of this, y'all, but let's get back into the top of it.
All right.
833-212-1017.
That's the number to dial.
833-212-1017 is the number to dial.
I think next week is when the budget is being discussed or presented.
If I'm not mistaken.
So we'll see.
Well, let's get it to it.
Everything is fact checked and confirmed via the city of Milwaukee's own 2026 executive budget summary and Mayor Johnson's public budget materials.
OK, this is 26.
Let's be clear.
We ain't got 27 yet.
Well, I think we see that next week.
But let's get it to it.
Milwaukee's total city budget right now.
It's around two billion dollars.
Two billion dollars.
Damn, what are we doing with two billion dollars, you might ask?
Where does it go?
Where does all this dang on money go?
Why we don't have enough of it?
Why it seems like things ain't getting done.
What's really happening?
But the truth is Nearly half of it none I have nearly 500 million of that Just about a quarter quarter of the budget It supports self-funded utilities that's like
our water and sewer.
Remember that large contract that we was talking about that that company was going to be getting?
That's money that we don't even have.
It has to.
We can't do anything about it.
We can't redirect it to any other city needs.
All right.
is money that legally can't be redirected to other city needs.
Hundreds of millions more are already committed to pensions and debt payments before a single discretionary dollar gets debated.
I'm just trying to break down the aspect of the city budget.
Why are we so broke here?
Why we don't got no funds to do anything here?
All right.
So 500 million goes to self-funded utilities like water and sewer.
We can't redirect 500 million.
It has to go there.
All right.
So a quarter of the budget.
Don't even think.
Don't worry about it.
Hundreds of millions more already committed to pensions and debt payments before a single discretionary dollar gets debated, meaning the portion of the two billion actually up for real political fights each year is a fraction of the top line number.
So we got to understand that we ain't working with.
Two billion really, when we talking about.
Yeah, that's the total amount but that ain't what we really got to Discuss debate move around whatever the case may be All right And when we come back We want to talk about where Where the general spending actually goes and we're gonna do this by the type of cost, okay?
And then, if we got enough time in that segment, we want to talk about the structural squeeze driving nearly every budget fight that we fight about today.
And I think y'all may gotta understand it.
Or idea.
You might have an idea.
But $2 billion, y'all.
Really not even $2 billion.
1.5.
Let's say that.
And that 1.5 might not even really be 1.5.
But we'll get into it right after these messages.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
You are listening to The Grapevine with Ray Nitty on the award-winning 1017 The
Truth.
I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen Oh, every time I close
eyes
I see
I'm about to prepare for when
I'm telling you.
Hey, how y'all feeling, man?
The world better prepare for when I'm a billionaire.
I'm going to do right with my m'billions, though.
I'm going to care about things like environmental justice, you know?
Preparation remediation for communities, things like that.
Making sure mental health services get to the people that really need it If I was a billionaire, that's what I would be doing, but I'm not a billionaire So we talking about what we would do if we had two billion dollars and how would we balance the city's budget?
I'm gonna tell you how to think about the budget be funny, right?
It'd be so many people that just pissed about the budget they own individual
Books don't be balanced.
My my damn books ain't even balanced.
What the hell?
I'm going to tell these people.
You're messing up two billion dollars.
Can't trust some of y'all with two hundred.
Can't bring that back.
Much less two billion.
So we're going to get into.
Where the general city spending actually goes a 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 It's the number to dial the city budget is coming up The city budget is coming up y'all And for those that May or may not know we already had a hundred million dollar deficit coming in to this year All right, so we came in down
100 million out of the billy.
So really, 600 million was pretty much already accounted for, because we had a gap to fill.
How did we close the gap?
But we'll talk about where general city spending actually goes by type of cost, personnel costs.
All right?
Salaries, wages, and benefits eat up 79.9% of general city purposes spending.
Supplies, services, and special funds account for 18.9%.
Equipment purchases just 1.2%.
This is a single most important number.
In the whole budget nearly four out of every five general purpose dollars is a one person not a program or a purchase Why is that you may ask because personnel is the overwhelming cost driver Okay City staffing levels matter enormously Having the right
Staff to run our city government the 2026 budget authorized 7,800 7,818 positions Which was down from 121 from 2025 Even as specific departments police fire, you know, we're mandated to grow
under state law, meaning other departments absorbed the reduction.
I feel like police and fire get lumped in too much because I don't know.
I feel like I. Give our fire department.
The 300 million.
That's how I feel.
Give our fire department that paper.
Just a thought.
You know, but who am I?
I'm just an entertainer.
Fire police were mandated to grow under state law, meaning other departments absorbed the reduction.
So here's.
The like what they say is the juice worth to squeeze.
Here's a squeeze driving nearly every budget fight that we have to do all the time.
All right.
Milwaukee legally.
This is just some good information to know.
Milwaukee legally cannot collect its own local income tax and the property tax levy for operations is capped by state law at a growth rate well below inflation.
Very few levers to raise money without state permission.
We have very few ways to raise money without state permission.
Which is probably even more important why it's good to have somebody as governor that maybe understand the squeeze that.
Milwaukee and Milwaukee County is going through.
I figure out new ways that.
Wisconsin can allow the city of Milwaukee and the county of Milwaukee to generate some different revenue instead of raising taxes.
But.
Twenty twenty threes, Wisconsin's Act 12 created a new two percent city sales tax city.
Sales tax and boosted state shared revenue.
A loan rose from two hundred and nineteen million, two hundred and nineteen point six million in twenty twenty three to two hundred and fifty four point five million in twenty twenty six.
Now indexed to statewide inflation.
combined with the two thousand twenty six sale tax hall of two hundred and six point two million.
This is well over four hundred million in annual money that simply didn't exist before twenty twenty three.
And we paid it's like, of course, it didn't exist because you weren't charging us for it.
You didn't raise our duh.
Of course it didn't exist.
But you know the logic, they'd be like, well, our sales tax is so much lower than everybody.
Well, that's a blessing.
That's not a reason to raise it.
That's why we like it here.
When you hear two billion Milwaukee budget, that does not mean two billion of choices.
Yeah Most of it is already spoken for by pensions debt utilities and mandated staffing costs All right The real fight
That we getting ready.
I'm telling you, it's going to be a good one, too.
If you ever really like got into it and watch these budget hearings, it gets good.
It gets good.
People start trying to take other things away and be like, well, I want this for me.
I need this.
Let's get good.
You got to you got to check it out.
And then imagine the deals that get made when the cameras are.
Man.
I guess good.
If you let me get this amount of money from this district and this project, I'll be OK with this.
But when you hear two billion dollar Milwaukee budget, that does not mean two billion dollars worth of choices.
Most of it is already spoken for pensions, debt, utilities, mandated staffing costs.
The real fight every fall is over a much smaller.
Much more contested slice fighting over the smaller slice.
And all of that slices personnel cost.
OK.
How would you spend two billion dollars eight three three two one two ten seventeen?
That's the number to dial Eight three three two one two ten seventeen is the number to dial So we just went through how the budget actually broke down All right We just gave you a snapshot of how the budget actually broke down the two billion dollars
where essentially $500 million of it is already going towards self-funded utilities.
That's our water, our sewer system, things like that.
We can't redirect it.
Hundreds of millions more go to already committed pensions, plan, and debt that we have.
All right?
So the two billion ain't two billion.
And we gonna see what the number really is at this next budget.
And remember, we was down 100 million going into this year.
I am going to guess.
Because this was actually also stated in the last budget.
We gonna face another deficit.
And I think that's why a lot of people were skeptical about raising the taxes because it was like, all right, that only addresses the problem temporarily.
What happens in the long term when we face another deficit?
So I'm gonna wait To see and I want to understand how did we make that last hundred million dollars?
Or how much of it was made up or is it just still a deficit we never made it up We talked about
What is spending went?
All right But when we come back from break we gonna dig a little deeper into The police and fire which is the single biggest line item On this list And I'm not here to say all abolished police and I'm not gonna sit here and say that absolutely not that's not my
That's not my ministry.
I think we need to take a look at how the resources are being used.
But don't go anywhere, y'all.
When we come back, we'll get into the conversation about the police and fire budget line item and how dominant it has been for the two billion dollars that we have in the city budget.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
It's your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the grapevine on the award winning one on one seven, the truth.
What up, y'all?
Welcome back.
It's your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the grapevine.
Brother Z holding this down with the production and sound.
How y'all feeling, man?
It is Friday.
It's payday for some of y'all.
What would you do with...
Two billion dollars What would you do it How would you spend two billion dollars man a 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 is the number to dial.
How would you spend it?
We about to get into how Milwaukee spends it Diving into one of the largest line items One of the largest line items
in the budget, which is police and fire.
Fact check once again by Urban Milwaukee, WPR, Fox six and the Wisconsin policy forms, dedicated police funding analysis.
This is where the information was researched from.
Just so y'all have, you know, beside our sources here.
So what I like to do at least.
I want nobody thinking that I'm just talking like I'm just this expert.
I did research and I'm sharing.
Information that I found.
And that's what we supposed to do as a community.
You get educated and then you share it.
All right.
MPD's budget alone, this is just Milwaukee Police Department's budget alone is 310 million.
In 2026, which was up.
From 270 million in 2024.
And 283 million in 2023.
Well, the first I had never seen where the budget went down for them.
That's roughly half of the city's total general fund departmental appropriations appropriations in a single department.
From 2015 to 2020 alone, Milwaukee's budgeted police operations spending grew 48.
point eight million dollars.
Nineteen point six percent.
Nearly all of it.
Nearly all, not all, but nearly all.
Ninety four point six.
Of total department spending to be exact.
Going to salaries, wages and benefits.
even as the actual number of sworn officers on the street declined over the same period.
I want y'all to sit with that for a second.
94.6%
going to salaries, wages, and benefits, even as the actual number of sworn officers on the street declined over that same period.
This is from 2015 to 2020.
94.6.
Not equipment.
Not...
Technology.
Not.
Community outreach or community programs or no.
And I say people shouldn't get paid.
I mean, let me say that, too.
I'm not saying police officers shouldn't get paid.
But I ask a question, right?
I might get in trouble for this question.
And I'm OK with police.
I have no problem with the police.
But I do got a problem when.
We've made it a practice to reward poor performance with more money.
And I'm not saying nobody ain't doing a job.
But I am saying.
I'm not mistaken.
The conviction rate is that we have.
50 more than 50 percent.
Of cases go on soft.
And typically when a department or a company or.
Consolidate whoever Typically if they do not perform They do not move the needle if they do not Result in change or progress Oh Very rare you hear them say well we just need more money And that's why and then you do it again next year.
It's because we didn't have enough money to hear before
So we need more money.
So we do it again next year.
We don't say, hey, hold on now.
What are we doing?
What are the last money go towards?
How did you use that?
Why this keeps growing even as officer headcount doesn't 2011.
Act 10, stripped collective bargaining for most public employees.
Well, Charlie, this is how long they been plotting and working on.
It's just they strip away, strip away, strip away.
2011, Act 10, stripped collective bargaining for most public employees, but specifically excluded.
police and fire unions, meaning those departments retained real bargaining leverage that most other city departments lost.
I can understand.
We don't need our police and fire department losing leverage and.
Bargaining, you know, because what?
What?
What?
What?
You can't put a price on safety.
Right safety is priceless.
I'd imagine that's what they say in them.
Safety is priceless.
I'd imagine that's their argument, right?
And it's very compelling.
It's a very compelling argument.
Safety is priceless.
But at what cost?
At what cost?
The newly ratified MPD police contract covering 2023 to 2026 backdated includes wage increases compounding to 15% by early 2026 with 2026 officer pay ranger from 77,000 to 104,000.
It passed with 87% union approval, but still needs common counsel sign off given the cost.
2023's Act 12, the same law that gave Milwaukee its sale tax lifeline came with a mandate attached.
The city must increase police and fire sworn staffing levels as a condition of the deal.
The mayor's 2026 budget funds three full police recruit classes, 65 recruits each.
specifically to try to meet the mandate.
Alderman Marina Dimitrovich blunt framing captures the real trade-off.
It's a question about the future and what kind of city.
When we make investments somewhere, we're naturally taking from something else.
That sounded cool Marina.
Still don't trust her.
The pension driver When we come back we're gonna talk about the pension driver underneath it all right because The 2026 budget gap started at eighty eight point three million Okay Started at eighty eight point three million
Then it jumped to a hundred point nine million after the city's pension system Actually delivered updated obligation numbers in June 2025 a single pension Recalculation added over 12 million in required spending overnight 12 million overnight
Sheesh.
We're going to talk about it, y'all.
Don't go anywhere because we're going to talk about.
The political history that's worth knowing when it comes down to this.
All right.
Because it's a little history.
It's a little history.
When we come back We'll talk about it cuz in June 2020 something happened.
Do you know what it
was?
What up?
What up?
What up?
Welcome.
Welcome.
Welcome.
Welcome back to the grapevine.
You are now locked in with your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the award-winning 10170 Truth Live from the American Family Insurance Studios.
What to do, man?
We talking about that money.
Talking about a billion dollars, man.
Talking about a billion dollars.
A real billion, not a fake one.
A real billion.
How does money get moved around, y'all?
Okay.
We talked about the pension driver underneath all of it.
2026 budget gap started with 88.3 million.
Then jumped to 109 million after the city's pension system.
Delivered updated obligation numbers in June 2025.
A single pension recalculation added over 12 million in required spending overnight.
I wish I could find a required 12 million in savings overnight.
So I could invest it Straight up I'm looking at the stock market right now September is usually historical down month.
So I'm like selling shares waiting for What may happen, but I'm trying to you know, get some decent profits and then pull out Don't want to pause pause
I don't want Jesus.
I don't want to take a loss on it.
I don't want to take a loss on it.
But.
Talking about the city money still.
This is the same dynamic driving library cuts, service reductions and tax increases across the whole budget.
Police, fire, staffing mandates, and pension obligations are effectively fixed costs.
The city has little short-term control over it.
So nearly all flexibility gets squeezed out of everything else.
Shout out to Big Frank and Mando and them that did the show at the libraries.
Mando?
Mando.
What'd I say, Mando?
I don't know.
Shouts out to big Frank It was amazing it was a line around the court they probably ain't never had that many young people in the library ever All races it was so full of Milwaukee rap all those people could you imagine that?
Look what happened with Milwaukee rap when you ain't over serving liquor
I wonder if the library is about to close down now.
Is the library going to be up for sale?
Shout out to them young boys, man.
We'll talk about little political history, worth, you know, knowing about this.
Because in the last segment, we said something happened in 2020.
Do we know what happened in 2020?
What historic event happened in 2020?
COVID.
That did happen.
Something else happened, too.
Something else happened, too.
In June 2020, following George Floyd's murder.
Common Council voted 13 to 2.
To direct the budget office to study a 10% cut to MPD's then $297.4 million budget.
Alderman Ashanti Hamilton's reasoning at the time, the city can't police its way into stable neighborhoods.
That study never resulted
in an actual cut.
MPD's budget has grown substantially since.
I wonder if that's why they got rid of Ashanti.
Not that I think about it.
Not that I think about it.
Not that I put some... When did Ashanti run or he was attempting to run for mayor?
Was that 2020?
So you gotta follow the money.
We say it all the time, right?
Follow the money Who got the biggest pie who trying to take piece of a pie Who who attempted to and who ain't there no more?
You get a lot of answers when you follow the bread So they did this budget study
I wonder what the study revealed.
They voted 13 to two to direct the budget office to study a 10 percent cut to MPD's then 297 million point four.
Two hundred ninety seven point four million dollars.
The city can't police its way into stable neighborhoods and it has not worked.
We just heard.
From some of the folks of the Department of Community Wellness and Safety Of how it doesn't work Well, not that you know, let me take that back.
They didn't say it didn't work.
They said there's high concentrated areas So the high concentrated areas of violence I'm wondering And I would hope so that would seem like the common sense thing right that they would do
A little more policing in that area.
Is that a fair question to ask or?
I need to stay in my entertainment box.
Because I feel like it's a fair question.
I feel like it's a fair question.
If we know.
That a certain area has high elevated.
High elevated levels of crime Do we strategically Do high level More surveillance more patrolling and do we see if that Helps I'm just asking maybe they are once again, I am neither
police officer interrupter or Anything like that So that's what we talking about That's what we are talking about The bottom line for the audience here y'all that's listening
Police and fire spending isn't growing because the city is choosing to prioritize it over libraries or housing every year.
A lot of that growth is now legally mandated by the same state law that saved Milwaukee's finances.
That's a real structural bind that's worth us understanding.
And and I got to say it's not it's not just a simple villain story in either direction.
OK, because it's easy to it's easy to just point the fingers at the police department.
It's easy to do that, right?
Oh, y'all.
Y'all doing this, y'all.
That's easy.
That's easy.
But.
They got a job to do.
Do we want them to have more training?
Yeah, we want them to have more.
Sensitive training when it comes to police in our community, right?
Seems like our community gets treated with a certain level of aggression.
Not by everybody.
Not by everybody because I don't want people to think, oh, this guy is just hard on cops.
And like, no, not at all.
I got a bunch of homies as police officers in Houston, in the Virgin Islands, in Milwaukee, in Atlanta.
But what I can say is I notice a difference in how other black populated states, highly black populated states, how the relationships with the police officers are, seems like a different tone.
It also seems like the staff matches the identity of the neighborhood.
When I'm in Houston, I see Houston cops.
I see black ones.
When I'm in Atlanta, I see Atlanta cops.
I see black ones.
When I'm in Detroit, I see black ones.
When I'm in Milwaukee, I see Polish cops.
White ones.
And I don't think people understand how much that does have a role to play.
Not saying that all this person is racist and I know it ain't that.
But culturally.
If you come from a place you would understand how to engage a little differently.
And respectfully, sometimes.
There's no amount of training
that could get you to the level of just.
Inheriting cultural competence.
Understanding neighborhoods, understanding people, knowing the people that live in the neighborhood.
That's important.
I'm not mistaken.
We also said.
City employees no longer have to live in the city of Milwaukee.
I thought we got rid of something like that.
Thought we got rid of something like that Don't go anywhere y'all when we get back we'll get in the hour two With the grapevine we talking about the city budget man Two billion dollars, how would you spend it?
When we come back we're gonna talk about what actually got cut to close the 2026 gap it was a hundred point nine million dollar core gap the city had to cut
All right.
So don't go anywhere, y'all, when we come back.
You might have an idea.
But two billion dollars, y'all.
Really not even two billion.
One point five.
Let's say that.
And that one point five might not even really be one point five.
But we'll get into it.
Right after these messages, don't go anywhere, y'all.
You are listening to The Great Vine with Ray Nitty on the award-winning 1017 The
Truth.
What up, y'all?
I swear every
close my eyes.
it.
I
I'm
Hey, how y'all feeling, man?
The world better prepare for when I'm a billionaire.
I'm gonna do right with my millions though.
I'm gonna care about things like environmental justice, you know.
Preparation remediation for communities.
Things like that.
Making sure mental health services get to the people that really need it.
If I was a billionaire, that's what I would be doing.
But I'm not a billionaire.
So we talking about what we would do.
if we had $2 billion.
And how would we balance the city's budget?
I'm gonna tell you why the thing about the budget be funny, right?
It be so many people that just pissed about the budget that they own individual books don't be balanced.
My damn books ain't even balanced.
What the hell I'm gonna tell these people like, you're messing up $2 billion.
Can't even trust some of y'all with $200.
Okay, bring that back much less two billion So we gonna get into Where the general city spending actually goes a 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 It's the number to dial the city budget is coming up The city budget is coming up y'all And for those that may or may not know we already had
$100 million deficit coming in to this year.
All right?
So we came in down $100 million out of the billy.
So really $600 million was pretty much already accounted for, because we had a gap to fill.
How did we close the gap?
But we'll talk about where general city spending actually goes by type of costs, personnel costs.
All right.
Salaries, wages and benefits.
Eat up seventy nine point nine percent of general city purposes spending.
Supplies, services and special funds account for eighteen point nine percent.
Equipment purchases.
Just one point two percent.
This is the single most important number in the whole budget nearly four out of every five general purpose dollars is a one person, not a program.
Or a purchase.
Why is that?
You may ask because personnel is the overwhelming cost driver.
OK.
City staffing levels matter enormously.
Having the right staff to run our city government.
The 2026 budget authorized 7,818 positions, which was down from 121 from 2025.
Even at specific departments, police fire, you know, were mandated to grow under state law, meaning other departments absorbed the reduction.
I feel like police and fire get lumped in too much because I don't know.
I feel like I. Give our fire department.
The 300 million.
That's how I feel give our fire department that paper Just a thought you know, but who am I I'm just an entertainer Fire police were mandated to grow under state law meaning other departments absorbed the reduction
So here's.
The like what they say is the juice worth to squeeze.
Here's a squeeze driving nearly every budget fight that we have to do all the time.
All right.
Milwaukee legally.
This is just some good information to know.
Milwaukee legally cannot collect its own local income tax and the property tax levy.
for operations is capped by state law at a growth rate well below inflation.
Very few levers to raise money without state permission.
We have very few ways to raise money without state permission.
Which is probably even more important why it's good to have somebody as governor that maybe understand the squeeze that Milwaukee and Milwaukee County is going through it might figure out new ways that Wisconsin can allow the city of Milwaukee and the county of Milwaukee to generate Some different revenue instead of raising taxes
But twenty twenty threes, Wisconsin's Act 12 created a new two percent city sales tax city.
Sales tax.
And boosted state shared revenue.
A loan rose from two hundred and nineteen million, two hundred and nineteen point six million.
In twenty twenty three to two hundred.
and fifty four point five million in twenty twenty six.
Now indexed to statewide inflation combined with the two thousand twenty six sale tax hall of two hundred and six point two million.
This is well over four hundred million in annual money that simply didn't exist before twenty twenty three.
And we paid it just like.
Yeah, of course it didn't exist because you weren't charging us for it.
You didn't raise our duh.
Of course it didn't exist.
But you know the logic, they'd be like, well, our sales tax is so much lower than everybody.
Well, that's a blessing.
That's not a reason to raise it.
That's why we like it here.
When you hear two billion Milwaukee budget that does not mean two billion of choices, you know Most of it is already spoken for by pensions debt utilities and mandated staffing costs All right The real fight That we getting ready I'm telling you it's gonna be a good one too if you ever really like got into it and watch these budget hearings
It gets good.
It gets good.
People start trying to take other things away and be like, well, I want this for me.
I need this.
This gets good.
You got to you got to check it out.
And then imagine the deals that get made when the cameras are.
Man, it gets good.
If you let me get this amount of money from this district or this project, I'll be OK with this.
But when you hear two billion dollar Milwaukee budget that does not mean two billion dollars worth of choices Most of it is already spoken for pensions debt utilities Mandated staffing costs the real fight every fall is over a much smaller Much more contested slice fighting over the smaller slice
And all of that slices personnel cost.
OK.
How would you spend two billion dollars?
A three three two one two ten seventeen.
That's the number to die.
A three three two one two ten seventeen is the number to die.
So we just went through.
How the budget actually broke down?
All right.
We just gave you a snapshot of how the budget actually broke down.
The two billion dollars, where essentially five hundred million dollars of it is already going towards self funded utilities.
That's our water, our sewer system, things like that.
We can't redirect it.
Hundreds of millions more go to already committed pensions plan and debt that we have All right So the two billion a two billion And we gonna see what the number really is at this next budget and remember we was down a hundred million going into this year.
I am going to guess Because this was actually also stated
in the last budget, we gonna face another deficit.
And I think that's why a lot of people were skeptical about raising the taxes because it was like, all right, that only addresses the problem temporarily.
What happens in the long term when we face another deficit?
So I'm gonna wait to see.
And I wanna understand how did we make that last $100 million up?
Or how much of it was made up or is it just still a deficit?
We never made it up.
We talked about.
What is spending went.
All right.
But when we come back from break, we're going to dig a little deeper into.
The police and fire, which is the single biggest line item.
on this list.
And I'm not here to say, oh, abolished police.
And I'm not going to sit here and say that.
Absolutely not.
That's not my ministry.
I think we need to take a look at how the resources are being used.
But don't go anywhere, y'all.
When we come back, we'll get into the conversation about the police and fire budget line item and how dominant it has been for the $2 billion that we have in the city budget.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
It's your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the grapevine on the award winning 1017, the truth.
What up, y'all?
Welcome back.
It's your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the grapevine.
Brother Z holding this down with the production and sound.
How y'all feeling, man?
It is Friday.
It's payday for some of y'all.
What would you do with...
Two billion dollars What would you do it How would you spend two billion dollars man 833 212 1017 is the number to dial.
How would you spend it?
We about to get into how Milwaukee spends it Diving into one of the largest line items One of the largest line items
in the budget, which is police and fire.
Fact check once again by Urban Milwaukee, WPR, Fox Six, and the Wisconsin Policy Forms Dedicated Police Funding Analysis.
This is where the information was researched from, just so y'all have, you know, we cite our sources here.
That's what I like to do at least.
I want nobody thinking that I'm just talking like I'm just this expert.
I did research and I'm sharing.
Information that I found.
And that's what we supposed to do as a community.
You get educated and then you share it.
All right.
MPD's budget alone.
This is just Milwaukee Police Department's budget alone is 310 million in 2026, which was up from 270 million in 2024.
And 283 million in 2023.
Well, the first I had never seen where the budget went down for them.
That's roughly half of the city's total general fund departmental appropriations appropriations in a single department.
From 2015 to 2020 alone, Milwaukee's budgeted police operations spending grew 48.
point eight million dollars.
Nineteen point six percent.
Nearly all of it.
Nearly all, not all, but nearly all.
Ninety four point six.
Of total department spending to be exact.
Going to salaries, wages and benefits.
even as the actual number of sworn officers on the street declined over the same period.
I want y'all to sit with that for a second.
94.6%
Going to salaries, wages and benefits.
Even as the actual number of sworn officers on the street declined over that same period.
This is from 2015 to 2020.
Ninety six, ninety four point six.
Not equipment.
Not.
Technology, not community outreach or community programs or no.
And I ain't saying people shouldn't get paid.
I mean, let me say that too.
I'm not saying police officers shouldn't get paid.
But I ask a question, right?
I might get in trouble for this question.
And I'm OK with police.
I have no problem with the police.
But I do got a problem when.
We've made it a practice to reward poor performance with more money.
And I'm not saying nobody ain't doing a job.
But I am saying.
I'm not mistaken.
The conviction rate is that we have.
50 more than 50 percent.
Of cases go on soft.
And typically when a department or a company or.
A consultant, whoever.
Typically, if they do not perform, if they do not move the needle, if they do not result in change or progress, I don't know, very rare you hear them say, well, we just need more money.
And that's why.
And then you do it again next year.
It's because we didn't have enough money to get before.
So we need more money.
So we do it again next year.
We don't say, hey, hold on now.
What are we doing?
What did the last money go towards?
How did you use that?
Why this keeps growing even as officer headcount doesn't?
2011 act 10 stripped collective bargaining for most public employees What y'all this how long they been plotting and working on it's just a strip away strip away strip away 2011 act 10 stripped collective bargaining for most public employees, but specifically
Excluded.
Police and fire unions, meaning those departments retained real bargaining leverage that most other city departments lost.
I can understand.
We don't need our police and fire department losing leverage and bargaining, you know, because what?
What?
What?
What?
You can't put a price on safety, right?
Safety is priceless.
I'd imagine that's what they say in their media.
Safety is priceless.
I'd imagine that's their argument, right?
And it's very compelling.
It's a very compelling argument.
Safety is priceless.
But at what cost?
At what cost?
The newly ratified MPD police contract covering 2023 to 2026 backdated includes wage increases compounding to 15% by early 2026 with 2026 officer pay ranger from 77,000.
to 104,000.
It passed with 87% union approval, but still needs common counsel sign off given the cost.
2023's Act 12, the same law that gave Milwaukee its sale tax lifeline came with a mandate attached.
The city must increase police and fire sworn staffing levels as a condition of the deal.
The mayor's 2026 budget funds three full police recruit classes, 65 recruits each, specifically to try to meet the mandate.
Alderman Marina Dimitrovich blunt framing captures the real trade off.
It's a question about the future and what kind of city.
When we make investments somewhere, we're naturally taking.
from something else.
I sounded cool, Marine.
Still don't trust her.
The pension driver.
When we come back, we're going to talk about the pension driver underneath it.
All right.
Because.
The 2026 budget gap started at.
eighty eight point three million.
OK.
Started at eighty eight point three million.
Then it jumped to one hundred point nine million after the city's pension system.
Actually delivered updated obligation numbers in June twenty twenty five.
Single pension recalculation added over 12 million in required spending overnight 12 million overnight Sheesh We're gonna talk about it y'all
Don't go anywhere because we're going to talk about.
The political history that's worth knowing when it comes down to this.
All right.
Because it's a little history.
It's a little history.
When we come back, we'll talk about it because in June 2020, something happened.
Do you know
was?
What to do man?
We talking about that money Talking about a billion dollars man Talking about a billion dollars a real billion not a fake one a real billion
How does money get moved around y'all?
Okay.
Talked about the pension driver underneath all of it.
2026 budget gap started with 88.3 million.
Then jumped to 109 million after the city's pension system.
Delivered updated obligation numbers in June 2025.
A single pension recalculation added over 12 million in required spending overnight.
I wish I could find a required 12 million in savings overnight.
So I could invest it Straight up I'm looking at the stock market right now September is usually historical down month.
So I'm like selling shares waiting for What may happen, but I'm trying to you know, get some decent profits and then pull out Don't want to pause pause
I don't want Jesus.
I don't want to take a loss on it.
I don't want to take a loss on it.
But.
Talking about the city money still.
This is the same dynamic driving library cuts, service reductions and tax increases across the whole budget.
Police, fire, staffing mandates, and pension obligations are effectively fixed costs.
The city has little short-term control over it.
So nearly all flexibility gets squeezed out of everything else.
Shout out to Big Frank and Mando and them that did the show at the libraries.
Mando?
Mando.
What'd I say, Mando?
I don't know.
Shout out to Big Frank.
Was amazing was the line around the court.
They probably ain't never had that many young people in the library ever All races it was so full of Milwaukee rap all those people could you imagine that?
Look what happened with Milwaukee rap when you ain't over serving liquor I wonder if the library is about to close down now
The library gonna be up for sale.
Chats out to them young boys, man.
We'll talk about little political history, worth, you know, knowing about this.
Because in the last segment, we said something happened in 2020.
Do we know what happened in 2020?
What historic event happened in 2020?
Covid.
That did happen.
Something else happened, too.
Something else happened, too.
In June, 2020, following George Floyd's murder.
Common Council voted 13 to 2.
To direct the budget office to study a 10% cut to MPD's then $297.4 million budget.
Alderman Ashanti Hamilton's reasoning at the time, the city can't police its way into stable neighborhoods.
That study never resulted
in an actual cut.
NPD's budget has grown substantially since.
I wonder if that's why they got rid of Ashanti.
Not that I think about it.
Not that I think about it.
Not that I put some... When did Ashanti run or he was attempting to run for mayor?
Was that 2020?
So you gotta follow the money.
We say it all the time, right?
Follow the money.
Who got the biggest pie?
Who trying to take piece of a pie?
Who who attempted to and who ain't there no more?
You get a lot of answers when you follow the bread.
So they did this budget study.
I wonder what the study revealed.
They voted 13 to two to direct the budget office to study a 10 percent cut to MPD's then 297 million point four.
Two hundred ninety seven point four million dollars.
The city can't police its way into stable neighborhoods and it has not worked.
We just heard.
from some of the folks of the Department of Community Wellness and Safety of how it doesn't work.
Well, not that you know, let me take that back.
They didn't say it didn't work.
They said there's high concentrated areas.
So the high concentrated areas of violence, I'm wondering.
And I would hope so.
That would seem like the common sense thing, right?
That they would do.
A little more policing in that area.
Is that a fair question to ask or?
I need to stay in my entertainment box.
Because I feel like it's a fair question.
I feel like it's a fair question.
If we know.
That a certain area has high elevated.
High elevated levels of crime Do we strategically Do high level More surveillance more patrolling and do we see if that Helps I'm just asking maybe they are once again, I am neither
police officer interrupter or Anything like that So that's what we talking about That's what we are talking about The bottom line for the audience here y'all that's listening
Police and fire spending isn't growing because the city is choosing to prioritize it over libraries or housing every year.
A lot of that growth is now legally mandated by the same state law that saved Milwaukee's finances.
That's a real structural bind that's worth us understanding.
And and I got to say it's not it's not just a simple villain story in either direction.
OK, because it's easy to it's easy to just point the fingers at the police department.
It's easy to do that, right?
Oh, y'all.
Y'all doing this, y'all.
That's easy.
That's easy.
But.
They got a job to do.
Do we want them to have more training?
Yeah, we want them to have more.
Sensitive training when it comes to police in our community, right?
Seems like our community gets treated with a certain level of aggression.
Not by everybody.
Not by everybody because I don't want people to think, oh, this guy is just hard on cops.
And like, no, not at all.
I got a bunch of homies as police officers in Houston, in the Virgin Islands, in Milwaukee, in Atlanta.
But what I can say is I notice a difference in how other black populated states, highly black populated states, how the relationships with the police officers are seems like a different tone.
It also seems like.
The staff matches the identity of the neighborhood.
When I'm in Houston, I see Houston cops.
I see black ones.
When I'm in Atlanta, I see Atlanta cops.
I see black ones.
When I'm in Detroit, I see black ones.
When I'm in Milwaukee, I see Polish cops.
White ones.
And I don't think.
people understand how much that does have a role to play.
Not saying that all this person is racist and I know it ain't that.
But culturally.
If you come from a place you would understand how to engage a little differently.
And respectfully, sometimes.
There's no amount of training.
that could get you to the level of just inheriting cultural competence.
Understanding neighborhoods, understanding people, knowing the people that live.
Since that check came in, I love it when you talk to me.
My cash machine.
My cash machine.
I love it when you talk to me.
My cash machine.
My cash machine.
Since that check came in, don't you know I got that back?
I got that back.
And best believe my mama's straight.
My mama's straight.
I sent some bands to Tatiana.
And if I brought you out, I'd pay you way.
I got the second set of goldens these ones way more colder I'm in the sky like all the time and now it's snow lay over My records all across the way then there was no payola This money knew these hunnids blew I'm talking no crayola My credit card is a plastic make brown What'd they do
I were two with the grapevine crew Ray Nitty DJ brother Z how y'all feeling man live on the award winning one on one seven the truth The American
Family Assurance Studios.
Hey, the timing on this song was so cold for so many reasons that you don't even understand, brother Z. This song is by Dram, right?
I literally just sold like $500 worth of Dram stock.
Like right before I sat down.
Like this brother is cold.
He I thought you was looking at my phone for a second when you pick that song I've been pulling money out the market y'all putting it on the sideline waiting for I Think is an economic crash that's about to happen I'm just waiting for other for better entry points to get back into the market.
So it's not like I'm taking it out and you know about to go
on Water Street.
I'm just preparing, moving, positioning, repositioning my finances.
And I got a small account I'm growing.
I'm trying to grow it, man.
I'm trying to be disciplined, constantly put into the market every month, you know, waiting for the right time to get into the market.
So I don't got to deal with, you know,
What the city is dealing with, trying to figure out this budget stuff.
So in this second hour.
Of the grapevine, y'all, we're going to be getting to the juice of it.
What actually got cut to close this gap in 2026?
And I hope we prepare for more cuts out to three years.
They say in something.
Big is going to happen economically in the next three years.
We got three years to prep.
That's why I'm taking the stock market a little bit more serious.
See, I was being real reckless in the stock market, just not really paying attention, not taking profits and getting greedy.
So you end up losing.
So now I'm just trying to do it the right way.
We're gonna also talk about what the 2027 budget could look like.
I am going to predict more cuts.
I'm gonna predict more cuts.
It's just my thoughts.
We're gonna talk about how city resources are actually distributed this hour as well.
Cool?
So what got cut?
Once again, you know, I love to let y'all know how we fact-checked this.
And this is confirmed via Urban Milwaukee, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, and the city's own executive budget service.
So we're not just pulling this from the Internet.
This is from, well, I guess technically we are pulling it from the Internet.
But we're not just pulling this from BASAP.
On top of the hundred.
Point nine million dollar core gap.
The city had to cut at least 20 million more.
From department requests specifically to comply with the state's expenditure restraint incentive program.
Without those cuts, Milwaukee would have forfeited nine
0.8 million in separate conditional state aid.
So it wasn't optional.
Imagine that.
They're like, I need you to cut $20 million before you lose $9 million.
I don't think I don't get it.
If you don't make this $20 million in cut, I'm not giving you nine.
I'd rather just keep the damn $20 million.
Keep the nine.
But I guess that's why I ain't down there over no budgets.
So what the mayor initially proposed cutting.
Library hours took the biggest visible public hit.
The mayor's proposed budget eliminated Sunday hours added in 2024.
At the Tippie canoe and Good Hope branches.
With an earlier budget cycle, having floated 31 eliminated library positions and temporary King Drive library closure.
The fire department's pace of increasing daily minimum staffing was proposed to slow relative to 2024-2025 increases, even as Milwaukee Fire Department separately pushed for more funding to replace an agent vehicle fleet.
I feel like our fire department should have the most money.
They did the first ones on the scene.
Avalanche, EMTs first, like, come on.
Administrant CPR.
I'm not saying police officers don't do this work.
I'm not saying they don't care
about
I'm just saying.
I feel like the fire department gets treated like the stepchild.
And in my opinion, they're the most important ones.
It's just my opinion.
What the Common Council restored?
Before we talk about what they restored is like, how do we expect?
Firefighters to.
Do they job with old equipment?
How do we expect it?
I remember one point we were closing.
Fire departments now never understood it But the comic council's finance committee led by Alder woman Marina Dimitrovich passed a 56 amendment omnibus package that Restored and expanded library.
I will look at that.
Look at you, Marina saving tip of canoe
Good Hope Sunday hours and adding new Sunday hours at MLK and Mitchell branches by mid-2020.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay, Marina.
I rock with that.
The final package added city worker pay raises, expanded down payment assistance and eviction legal representation funding and purchased additional fire trucks.
Look at that.
Funded through a less than 1% additional property tax increase beyond the mayor's original proposal.
The council adopted its amended budget 13-1-1, meaning one abstained, on November 7th, 2025, Mayor Johnson then voted several council additions and a rare notable rebuke.
The entire council voted to override every single one of his veto.
Ah, that's why voting is important, y'all.
Damn, they overrided everything.
Alderman Scott Spiker tried to eliminate all funding for the hop outright.
Hi, Scott.
Hi, Spiker.
That failed but a scaled back amendment passed directing the Public Works Commissioner to develop an actual fair collection plan over Alderman Bowman's objection that collection fares would cost more than it generates.
This makes no sense.
So why did you push for it, Bob?
Why did you push for something that will cost more than it could actually generate?
That makes no sense.
That's the leadership we got, though.
That's who's over the entertainment district.
That's who's responsible for bringing new ideas and things like that to our downtown entertainment district.
Anywho.
The honest summary.
2026 wasn't.
The city quietly absorbing painful cuts.
It was a real public fight when a council pushed back hard on the marriage proposed cuts and largely won.
I could get behind that.
They're probably like, man, ain't nobody using the libraries anyway.
But we still want them open.
You know, why could some people use the Wi-Fi?
Kids use the Wi-Fi.
I've definitely seen young people sitting outside on the bench outside of the Center Street library.
After the library is closed, of course.
So I've seen.
You know.
What happened to the free Wi-Fi?
I thought we was putting up like free hot spots or something in the city.
Is that still going on?
Oh, is that something I cut to?
Anyway, it was a real public fight.
When the council pushed back hard on the mayor's proposed cuts and largely won at the cost of a modest additional tax increase
Peace.
Modest.
We'll see about that.
Worth knowing before assuming City Hall just rubber stamped austerity.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
When we come back, we're going to get into what the 2027 budget could actually look like.
And that's like next week coming up after this Labor Day weekend.
Don't go anywhere.
Y'all should boy Ray needy holding down on the award winning one on
one seven the truth
What up,
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.
It is your boy Ray Nitty holding it down on the award-winning one-on-one, 7 to Truth Live from the American Family Insurance Studios.
We on the grapevine, y'all.
Damn, man, this might be my last day with y'all on the grapevine.
Ooh, I was liking them hours.
Man, I was having a good time, man.
We got to talk about a lot though.
Nice.
Nice two weeks with y'all, man.
I felt like I was able to breathe and really get into some topics that was important to me.
Environmental injustice, the corridor.
Yeah, man.
If you're following me, man, make sure you check out my Facebook page, because I think we're going to do this pop up.
I'm sale with Larry and his belongings, man.
What are we talking about doing this?
Think Sunday, maybe Sunday, man, depending on the weather.
Depending on the weather, we're going to make something happen.
So.
Want to get some of these antiques sold, man, 833 212 10 17 is the number to dial.
It's feel good Friday, man.
Call us up.
What are you excited about?
What are you happy about?
What are you excited about this weekend?
What you ready to do?
What are you ready to do?
I hope everybody is having a good time man Just trying to educate our people man Have a good time and educate us while we
You know, girl, we talking about the money.
What the 2027 budget could actually look like.
So Mayor Johnson held a public.
This had to be.
Oh, OK, OK.
Mayor Johnson held a public budget open house at Zablaki and Atkinson libraries this summer specifically to gather residents input before.
the September 22 release.
Okay, so September 22nd is when it's coming out.
I said next week, I'm a little early.
Wisconsin Policy forms own 2026 brief flagged directly the city would likely face greater challenges in the coming.
I told y'all, man.
I told y'all.
Why?
Because things only got.
more expensive.
And we didn't create ways to generate any additional revenue.
And guess what?
Yanis is no longer here.
So that economical boost that we had is gone.
We better pray to brewers win the World Series.
We better pray.
The Brewers win the World Series.
They better do it.
I hope y'all listen to the Sherwin Show.
You better think about tolls.
I'm sorry, Mekwan.
You have to drive through the community if you want to avoid these tolls.
Eat Green Bay.
County Line Road, 76th Street, 60th.
Go explore the neighborhood.
But put these tollways up, man.
I pay toes to go to Chicago.
To go to my.
To go see my doctors.
Get my prescriptions and the taxes that we lose.
To our neighboring cities, because other folks like myself have to go see their doctors and other neighborhood neighboring cities.
We don't do anything.
Creative to generate revenue, man.
All we do is raise taxes.
Cut jobs, raise taxes.
Cut jobs, raise taxes.
Raise the wheel tax, raise the county tax, raise the city tax.
Just raise it.
Wisconsin Policy Forum's own.
Flagged this directly, the city will likely face greater challenges in the coming years.
Driven by.
Continued pension, wage and benefit growth with 2027 being the last.
Of three years of the elevated 116 million annual borrowing surge.
The mayor announced.
In the twenty twenty five budget.
Cost of form specifically flagged are likely to resurface.
It's going to resurface.
It's going to resurface.
Bear minimum, I'm going to assume.
They try to at least Match not drastically exceed the previous gaps Hmm We can't borrow our money on
The NPD contract adds a new wrinkle for the 20 27 specifically.
And I don't know if y'all seen the guy who's the president of the police.
He's been working.
He's been working.
It's like he's doing his job.
He's doing his job for us like making sure he gets what he needs for his police officers He had all the means he's like, you know, it's just You know, it's just Whatever We don't have enough fun.
That's what they say on time.
Okay, we don't have enough fun.
We need to hire more cops
It's like the same argument.
It's the same argument.
We don't have enough funds.
We need to hire more.
We don't have enough.
We need to hire more.
They don't say we don't have enough.
We need to hire more, but we're not doing the rest of a job.
Put up the tolls.
I'm with it.
Let's talk Chicago.
They coming in for these brewers games.
They coming in for these Chicago games.
They coming in for Summerfest.
They coming in for all of these other things.
Mekwan, I'm sorry.
They coming in here to work.
Tearing up the roads.
Sure, 100% right.
I've been said we should be told we should have tolls.
Lock the city down all tolls.
Then you want to impress me?
Give the people from the city of Milwaukee a free, damn toll pass.
So when we driving
out of the city because we pay enough taxes here.
We just get to, you know, we don't get flocked for it.
With the 2026 raises locked in and no additional increases scheduled beyond the.
three point two five at the start of the year, a new police labor agreement will likely need to be negotiated for twenty twenty seven and beyond.
So this is going to be real good.
A real recurring cost pressure point.
Because we always got it.
We don't have to figure it out.
We can't just.
Say to hell with them.
But structurally.
Structurally, the Milwaukee, no.
Structurally, Milwaukee is unlikely to gain a new tool, any new tools as sizable as Act 12 anytime soon.
Expected 2027 to be balanced through the same limited toolkit.
Reserve draws, sale tax, last shared revenue growth, departmental.
Belt tightening and modest fee slash tax increases, not a new major revenue source.
We have no real revenue source.
We just lost our prize in Yanis.
They're going to say violence is down, is up downtown, so nobody wants to go downtown.
They're going to blame it all on violence.
They ain't going to blame it on bad budgeting.
They're gonna blame it on the trauma of the community overspilling into downtown.
I'm telling y'all, I wish I could bet this on Kalshee, expect another meaningful budget gap.
Another round of proposed library and service trims.
Most likely we're going to have a renewed police and fire contract.
They got to have separate budgets, right?
I wish we would have separated it.
I wish I would have separated it and actually highlight the fire contract.
I gotta get Jared in on the show I Get the homie Jared on the show man to talk about maybe him and maybe we could get him in the fire chief To come in man.
I would love to talk to them About the work that they do the support that they need and what does this 2027 budget could look like for them All right But I'm saying this y'all expect another meaningful budget gap
All right Gonna be a lot of contract pressures in another comic council fight to restore at least some of the cuts That's been the consistent pattern for three straight budget cycles don't go anywhere y'all when we come back We will get into how city resources are actually distributed right here on the award winning one on one seven the
truth
What
What up?
What up?
What up?
What up?
What up?
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
What it do?
What it do?
What it do?
It's the great Vi crew, man.
We talking about the Milwaukee County, not Milwaukee County, the Milwaukee City budget because there's a difference.
It's a huge difference.
Laurent Taylor, what up, man?
He says, put up toes to come into the city and put up toes to come out.
Absolutely.
Let's do it.
They gon' say, oh, it costs too much money to put it up.
That's what they gon' say.
He also says, all the police have to do is show a video of State Fair, Water Street, and Brady Street, and the police will get their money.
But they can't show a video of State Fair, because that's West Dallas police.
And I'll be damned if West Dallas police get a piece of ours.
All right?
But.
You also says I know you saw the Tom Tiffany commercial Do you want David Crowley to bring this to the rest of the state showing the black kids to stay fair?
Absolutely, but it's funny because it lets you know they really don't have nothing on Crowley They really don't have nothing on crowd They really don't I don't know if I've seen this before
You know they when they had the Mandela as is like Mandela Barnes too radical for Wisconsin Yeah, they can't even use that play They can't even use that play But
A 3 3 2 1 2 10 17 is the number to dial.
We are about to talk about how the city resources are actually distributed.
All right.
Fact checked by the Urban Institute's neighborhood investment flows in the city of Milwaukee.
Report HMDA slash census data 2005 2019 and the city's own 2023.
disparity study.
All right.
So here's the core findings.
Majority white centrist census tracts received an average of 8,696 in total investment per household per year.
Majority black tracts received just 4,239, less than half
a 2.1 time gap, majority Latino tracks receive even less.
3,584, a 2.4 time gap.
All right.
By poverty level rather than race.
Let's talk about that.
By poverty level rather than race.
High poverty neighborhoods received 5,000
and $61 per household per year versus 7,961 in low poverty neighborhoods, a smaller 1.6 gap, meaning race predicts investment disparity even more strongly than income alone.
Geographically, investment concentrates
downtown along the lakefront and along the I-94 corridor with a noticeable absence of investment activity across broad stretches of the North and South sides.
The same areas that are majority, what?
Black and majority, what?
Latino.
We just talked about this, y'all.
Those same areas have a high.
Very high.
Abandoned warehouse factory.
Right.
It's just a core finders of how actual resources are distributed in the city.
We talking about, oh, who gonna get their roads fixed?
Who gonna?
Come on now.
Come on now, who makes those calls though?
Who's the person?
That decides, okay.
30 second and center.
It's time to fix y'all road.
33rd and center, it's time to fix y'all road.
34th, it's time to.
Like them streets is insane over there.
Who makes that call?
I don't obviously the other man got to do it, but who signs off on it?
So why this matters?
For the budget conversation at least This data covers private capital like mortgages and business lending, right?
More than just like
Direct city spending.
But it is the environment city budget decisions operate inside.
When library hours or eviction legal aid get cut or restored in neighborhoods.
Already receiving half the private investment of.
Wealthy areas the stakes are structurally higher Okay Just sharing with y'all man.
I'm just sharing some things with y'all That's all
Historical context, Reggie Jackson.
Of America's Black Holocaust Museum has noted.
Milwaukee's black medium, median family income was roughly 50,000.
Today's dollar 50 years ago, 50 years ago.
Think about that.
Near the seventh highest in the nation for black families today, it's under 28.
thousand with black poverty now 39% above the national average a complete reversal driven by manufacturing job loss suburban flight and reduced north side reinvestment and I will also say.
I will also say remediation.
Because we allowed all them manufacturing jobs to just leave.
We allowed them to just leave.
We didn't hold them accountable.
We didn't create no environmental fund that they had to annually pay in.
That's what I would have done.
Come do some business here, but you gotta give you 10%, man.
Something five.
annual.
This ain't no one time thing.
Every year you hear, you got to kick in because when you leave, when you leave and thank you for the jobs that you brought to the community, I appreciate it, but the everlasting effect of poison.
has way greater impact on our people in the long term.
Because guess what?
Warehouse gone, city decreased, people moved out, neighborhood identity goes down, abandoned warehouse now, breeding ground for nefarious activities.
But we didn't hold them accountable.
They made billions of dollars, your master locks, your bricks and stratens, your Bostics, and was able to just leave.
And then we have all of these stats.
We got all this data.
We just talked about it.
But anyway, we'll tie everything back.
segment two and three, right?
Every library hours fight and every eviction assistance line item is playing out on top of a documented decades.
Long private investment gap city government didn't create and can't fully fix alone.
But the 2023 disparity study and 2020 equity ordinance are at least a formal legally grounded starting point to actually track and address.
This injustice in city contracting specifically.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
When we come back, we're going to close this thing out.
We're going to close this thing out, y'all.
Hope y'all having a good time man.
It is Friday
It's Friday.
I want us to think about money as we go into the weekend.
You just got paid.
I want you to think about your money because we're about to have another budget deficit.
For 2027, I'm just waiting to hear what the number is.
Don't go anywhere, y'all.
C is the award-winning 1017, the
truth.
Put on for your family, going by the block, invested in the business.
Go get you some stock.
I ain't these rappers teaching young kids to crash out.
I teach them to win big, then going cash out.
Can't stop now, won't stop.
Last time I checked, I'm 10 toes down.
Run it up, and then invest.
I'm looking in the mirror, really him beating on my chest.
Then look at my agenda like what's next?
Getting off, I'm doing my thing.
What's next?
Put on for my family and my team.
What's next?
Welcome back, welcome back.
Shout out to Wave, man.
Wave might be one of my favorite artists in the city.
I just love how that brother grew.
I remember when Wave Chappelle was in a crew.
That's how old I am.
He was like a teenager still if I'm not mistaken.
Boy, I've been doing this thing, man.
Super, super, super dope artist.
Shout out to Wave.
What's next, y'all?
We talking about closing this thing out.
We're just talking about closing this out, man, as we get ready to enter this 2027 budget.
What's up, Cousins?
You should read.
As we get ready.
To enter this 2027 budget, it's a couple of things I want us to think about, not only the city budget, but our own personal finances as well for our community, for ourselves, for our family.
Let's get real serious about organizing our money Let's get real serious about being fiscally responsible.
I'm talking about myself too Talking about myself, but I'm hoping that in talking about myself That it inspires other people don't want to do the same because we need To get on the same page because we know we represent what?
Almost two trillion dollars in buying power
We got Dante Andrew Ward on the line.
How you doing Dante you live on the grapevine?
I'm not down to I'm
doctor
I apologize doctor you
that needs to be heard Yes, you're on the topic that we really really really need And I really have a concept
Unlike your president or financial literacy, I call it money handling.
I'm gonna hit you with a couple of big things that hardly anybody else addresses.
The national debt is about $40 trillion.
$40
And it's raising, it's increasing every day and not because we are buying new services or products.
It's on the interest.
the finance charges.
And that's the same thing that's happened with homes.
People are buying cars and the finance charges keep putting them underwater before they sign the line.
And the same thing with the home.
If you take a 30-year mortgage, you're not paying on the house till you pay 25 years.
So all you pay in the finance charges, which is the same as rent.
And I've been sharing this with everybody I know.
and I want them to get it and share it.
What I want you to do, since you're on that subject, is I want to have a talk with you so you can spread it, because you seem to be the only person I've talked to that's really interested.
You have a good one, Doctor.
want to
I want to talk to you
because I think you can spread it better than I can.
sir.
Yes, sir.
Appreciate you for
Appreciate you, doctor.
Shout out to Dr. Ward, y'all.
Dr. Ward calling in, sharing some information and knowledge.
You know, we talked about our debt on here before.
And I think we touched the surface, but not as.
Not as deeply as he just did and went into that's only the interest.
Imagine that.
That's just interest.
We're paying down on the actual debt.
So.
The through line across all five of these segments, young.
We get ready to close this out.
I promise you Milwaukee's budget isn't a story of careless spending or simple villains.
We'll see.
I think we got a little bit of careless spending.
Careless demands is a city with almost no independent revenue tools after we just lost our biggest revenue booster.
legally mandated to grow police slash fire spending, sitting on top of pension system with rising costs, trying to serve neighborhoods that have received less than half the private investment of wealthier areas for two decades and running.
I told y'all I got here when I was 14.
I told y'all, I thought I was lying.
And when I was 14, 15 years old, they said, just wait.
The investment will reach the north side.
Just wait.
The investment was going, then I turned, what's 10 years after?
25.
They said, just wait.
The investment is coming.
The investment will reach the north side.
Tom Merritt told us that a whole 18 years he was mayor.
How the hell long he been mayor?
Just wait.
Northside is coming.
Milwaukee is coming.
Then I turned 35.
Just wait.
Milwaukee investment is coming to the north side.
I'm 42 years old now and we decided not to wait.
We put $77 million of investment on the north side of Milwaukee on Center Street in the old Briggs and Stratton site that was left abandoned.
Right across the street from Master Lock, which now sits abandoned and for auction.
Contaminated sites.
When we don't wait and invest.
They do like Tulsa.
They do like Central Park before it was Central Park.
Find ways to tear it down make it difficult make it unachievable unattainable All right No independent revenue tools none just taxes just no we don't even take advantage of the hemp Here
We don't take advantage of it.
Why don't we, the city of Milwaukee should at least bare minimum, we should have had our own testing facility.
All these hemp licenses, nobody's really doing this to, like why we don't have our own testing and make it, oh my God, do I gotta think for everybody?
The way we allow all these stores to just sell the, like, do I gotta think for everybody?
The real lever residents actually have.
The Common Council's 26 fight proved public pressure works.
Library hours got that got cut were restored specifically because residents and all the persons pushed back hard.
The same window opens again this fall with the 20 27 budget process starting with public hearing before September 22nd release and continuing.
through the Common Council's amendment process in October.
We got till October to get on the same page.
I'm gonna be studying for a test, though.
I got a test coming up in October that I'm studying for.
I got to schedule my test date, actually.
Studying for something in my Masonic journey.
Maybe we had a grand come up next week, man.
Talk to some folks.
Grand and grand lives come through, man.
Let's turn truth up real quick.
Show them how we get out.
Talk about Prince Hall masonry.
What it does for the community.
I think that'd be an amazing conversation to have.
I'ma close this out, y'all.
So whatever, whatever the 2027 proposal looks like, whatever it looks like, the Common Council's public hearings are the actual venue where a 20 to $30 million line items get restored or cut.
It's not no civic lesson I'm teaching.
It's the same room where library Sunday hours got saved last year.
Probably the same room.
They just turned it up and had an amazing event.
Look at what Milwaukee Rap did.
Brought way more people to the library than I think the library's ever seen.
Even free books didn't bring that many people out to the library.
I got a quote I'ma close and leave y'all with.
It's by Booker T. Washington.
Alright.