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The discussions follow several budget-related debates over the past year. In July 2025, residents and Common Council members voiced strong opposition to the possibility of a wheel tax, leading city officials to abandon the idea. Officials also previously considered an operating referendum.<\/p>\n
In September, however, the Common Council opted not to pursue a public safety referendum at that time, choosing instead to focus on finalizing the city\u2019s 2026 budget before deciding whether to seek voter approval to exceed state levy limits.<\/p>\n
New Berlin Mayor Dave Ament said the current discussions are a continuation of conversations that began last year.<\/p>\n
The wheel tax came out of a discussion mayors had with state officials about the growing issue of the shared revenue formula that the state uses, which is \u201cseverely outdated, and the restrictions that the state has on for revenue limits and additional mandates that they require of us, and this affects the county as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ament explained that state officials encouraged municipalities to use available revenue-generating tools, including wheel taxes and referendums.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe asked what are those tools, and they said one would be a wheel tax, one would be a referendum,\u201d he said. He said the wheel tax discussion last year was intended to gauge council support rather than propose a formal plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to spend a lot of time and resources of myself and staff If they weren\u2019t interested in doing it at all. The wheel tax was one of them. It was just to see what their appetite was for even having those included in my proposed budget,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ament said the referendum discussion is tied to the city\u2019s longterm public safety planning rather than addressing an immediate budget crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not meant to be a stopgap or to fill anything, it was meant to look at our long-term five- and 10-year public safety needs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to Ament, the city reduced police staffing by several officers around 2008 or 2009, while the fire department has continued expanding as New Berlin transitioned from a volunteer department to a municipal department.<\/p>\n
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