The Milwaukee Common Council voted unanimously to overturn Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s proposals for the city’s fire department. Last Tuesday, Johnson refused to fully-fund the 2026 budget for the Milwaukee Fire Department (MFD) that would fund critical infrastructure including new fire equipment last Tuesday.
The fire department requested $30 million over the next two years to replace outdated and nonfunctional trucks. Mayor Johnson expressed concern that the request was “unsustainable.”
In a letter Mayor Johnson defended his action as one of fiscal restraint, “What I do support is adding $4-million in borrowing for fire trucks in addition to the $2-million I initially proposed. This would represent the largest annual investment the city has ever made in fire truck replacement.”
Final budget appropriations show that Mayor Johnson is offering the fire department less than a quarter of what they asked for in the 2026 budget. Of the Milwaukee Common Council’s roughly $2 billion budget, Mayor Johnson allotted less than $2 million initially to the MFD.
The Common Council amended the Mayor’s budget, adding $4 million to the allotted $2 million, and taking $4 million from a Municipal Services building from the Department of Public Works to the MFD. That would give the Fire Department a total of nearly $10 million. (RELATED: ‘I Can’t Keep Everybody in Jail’: Judge’s Decision Ends in CTA Train Fire Attack)
Currently, 11 of the 44 engines are nonoperational and three ladder trucks failed testing, making them unsafe for use. According to the National Fire Protection Association, Trucks are not usable if they are more than 15 years old. However in Milwaukee, nearly half of their trucks are past that.
In a statement Milwaukee Fire Department Chief Aaron Lipski said, “It’s absolutely not enough. I’ve been brazenly clear on this point. We ask for what we need.”
Due to the aging and unfit equipment, the Milwaukee Fire Department recently borrowed firetrucks from Cudahy and Wauwatosa. This action represents a dire measure in emergency response. (RELATED: American Family Field Parking Lots Could See Renovations And Improvements)
The Milwaukee Professional Firefighters Association posted on Facebook, “local 215 is extremely frustrated with the mayor and his administration‘s decisions of not prioritizing the city of Milwaukee residents and its firefighters who risk their lives each and every day. Public safety should always be the top priority for all citizens of Milwaukee.”
Other vetoes from the mayor included an additional base pay increase to city employee salaries, a proposal of adding Sunday hours to the library, and the removal of a staff position in the Department of Administration’s Innovation office.
During the appropriations meeting, Mayor Johnson questioned council funding with events like the Big Clean and Hip-Hop Week, saying they are “illogical when there are hundreds-of-thousands of dollars available in unused money from previous years.”