Aldermen today voted to override Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett's veto of a $20-per-car annual local vehicle registration fee, otherwise known as a wheel tax.
Barrett had vetoed the proposal, but the aldermen overruled the veto this morning with an 11-4 vote.
Aldermen Joe Dudzik, Michael Murphy, Terry Witkowski and Tony Zielinski voted in the minority to sustain Barrett's veto.
With the new wheel tax, the owners of every car or light truck kept in the city, will pay a city fee of $20, in addition to the state's $75 registration fee. The new city fee will go into effect in November.
Proponents of the wheel tax say estimate it will generate $6.6 million in additional revenues to fund street repairs.
Alderman Robert Bauman, whose district includes the downtown area, was one of the key supporters of the wheel tax.
The wheel tax will be a more fair way to pay for street repairs, Bauman said, spreading out the costs with a small fee paid by nearly all city residents instead of charging a large fee to those who live on the streets that are being repaired.
"This is a restructuring of the way we charge for street resurfacing and repairs," he said. "We have basically eliminated the special assessment for road repairs, which represented a huge tax sometimes, $3,000 to $4,000, for the people who happened to live on the street that was being repaired."
Alderman also wanted to increase funding for street repairs, Bauman said. The city had a massive pothole problem this year, and aldermen received numerous calls from residents who were unhappy that the city's infrastructure was in such poor condition.
"Maintaining infrastructure is not free," Bauman said.
Barrett this morning called the veto override a "major victory for absentee landlords."
Aldermen override Barrett's wheel tax veto
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