Milwaukee : State Data and Comparisons : State Data Lab

Milwaukee, WI

TIA Data

2017 Financial State of Milwaukee (Released 1/29/2019)

Milwaukee's Taxpayer Burden.™ is -$8,200, and received a "D" from TIA.

Milwaukee is a Sinkhole City without enough assets to cover its debt.

Decisions by elected officials have created a Taxpayer Burden™, which is each taxpayer's share of city bills after its available assets have been tapped.

TIA's Taxpayer Burden™ measurement incorporates all assets and liabilities, including retirement obligations.

Milwaukee only has $1.1 billion of assets available to pay bills totaling $2.8 billion.

Because Milwaukee doesn't have enough money to pay its bills, it has a $1.7 billion financial hole. To erase this shortfall, each Milwaukee taxpayer would have to send $8,200 to the city.

The city is still hiding $588.6 million of its retiree health care debt. A new accounting standard will be implemented in the 2018 fiscal year which will require governments to report this debt on the balance sheet.

The city's financial report was released 197 days after its fiscal year end, which is considered untimely according to the 180 day standard.