Milwaukee County approves sales tax increase as part of plan to avoid bankruptcy

abcnews.go.com:

The Milwaukee County board has voted to nearly double the county’s sales tax, two weeks after the city of Milwaukee approved a local sales tax increase as part of a bipartisan plan to avoid bankruptcy

MADISON, Wis. — The Milwaukee County board voted Thursday to nearly double the county's sales tax, two weeks after the city of Milwaukee approved a local sales tax increase as part of a bipartisan plan to avoid bankruptcy.

Both the city and county, which make up the state's largest metropolitan areas, faced running out of money without additional revenue to pay for basic services such as police and fire protection, park maintenance and libraries.

Milwaukee leaders, together with a broad statewide coalition, successfully lobbied the Republican-controlled Legislature to increase funding for all local governments in the state by $275 million and tie future increases to state sales tax revenue under a plan signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Under that plan, Milwaukee County and the city were allowed to raise additional money through local sales taxes. The Milwaukee Common Council earlier this month approved a 2% sales tax. And on Thursday, the county board voted to approve a 0.4% sales tax increase, nearly doubling the current rate of 0.5%. Combined with the state sales tax rate of 5%, the total tax rate in the city of Milwaukee will be 7.9%.

The higher rates will take effect in January.

Both city and county leaders warned of dire consequences without the additional money that the higher sales taxes will generate.

The additional money will allow the city and county to make additional payments to their underfunded pension systems. Milwaukee County alone faces a $760 million pension liability. City and county leaders