Wisconsin Policy Forum

Jul 17, 2024

Wisconsin housing permits out of step with costs, report shows

Housing permits jumped during the pandemic and flattened after amid high house prices and building costs.

Apr 19, 2023

School revenue limit referendums narrowly pass in April election

Only above half of school revenue referendums passed in April, which some experts said might be the sign of a trend in reverse.

Jan 24, 2023

Milwaukee metro construction looks to worker pipeline in restricted labor market

Milwaukee's construction labor market has been as tight as its been in the past 20 years.

Dec 29, 2022

Wisconsin city offers incentives for building new single-family homes

A Wisconsin city is offering $10,000 to homebuilders in a statewide report on worker incentives.

Nov 28, 2022

Midterm elections yield most referendum dollars in more than 2 decades

Wisconsin voters gave school districts the authority to issue the highest amount of debt amid the highest rate of referenda passage since 2000, a Wisconsin Policy Forum report showed.

Sep 19, 2022

Wisconsin sees slight construction growth over last year, industry jobs excel

Several Wisconsin counties saw slight growth in new construction over the last year while a dozen saw less than 1% growth, according to a state revenue department report. Meanwhile, construction was among employment sectors which exceeded 2019 levels, according to a separate report.

Jul 15, 2022

Local officials turn to ‘transportation utility’ charges for roads; court challenges stand in their way

With inflation only making the perennial problem of paying for road projects worse, local governments in Wisconsin are turning to a new means of raising revenue.

Dec 16, 2021

Policy Forum: Transportation aid formula favors small towns, high-growth cities

Wisconsin's primary means of helping cities and towns pay for road work tends to delivers the most support to places with high property values and ongoing development at the expense of local governments that may have greater needs, according to a report released Wednesday.

Dec 10, 2021

Amani neighborhood program shows promise, pitfalls of improving Milwaukee housing

A project to revitalize a single block in Milwaukee‘s Amani neighborhood is offering some lessons on steps local leaders and city officials can take to improve the city’s housing stock. […]

Nov 3, 2021

Report: Wheel tax revenue rises rapidly, tripling in four years

Revenue collected from wheel taxes in Wisconsin has tripled in the last four years as more local governments adopt the additional charge on drivers to offset stagnant state aid and restrictions on property-tax increases, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Oct 19, 2021

Report: Milwaukee could look to other cities to find ways to maintain parks

Milwaukee County's shrinking collections of property taxes are forcing it to rely more on fees and other revenue — a mix that's inadequate to deal with the county's backlog of deferred construction projects at public parks and other properties.

Oct 13, 2021

Policy Forum: COVID-19 aid buys Milwaukee time to shore up city hall, take on other projects

Milwaukee's nearly $400 million in federal COVID-19 aid will help provide about three years of relief before city government is again faced with a fiscal cliff brought on by lagging state support and pension liabilities.