Rep. Scott Allen tells Waukesha finance committee the city is "getting squeezed" by state shared-revenue formulas

On July 14, 2026, at a meeting of the Waukesha City Finance Committee, Representative Scott Allen told committee members that Waukesha is being "squeezed out of shared revenue formulation[s]," arguing that formula changes over the past several decades and the 2023 Act 12 supplemental-aid program have left mid-sized cities with relatively little state support.

Allen delivered a high-level history of Wisconsin's shared-revenue arrangements and outlined how a shift from a "return to origin" allocation toward needs-based, formula-driven distributions and legislative control reduced the direct flow of tax receipts back to localities. "Green Bay receives four times the amount of shared revenue as Waukesha," he said while walking the committee through comparative charts and assessed-value figures.

Why it matters: Committee members said the funding squeeze narrows options for services such as police, fire and EMS because Waukesha faces both limited shared revenue and statutory levy limits. The chair noted that, for example, the council in recent practice can consider a new-construction levy increase of about 1.66%, while personnel and operating costs are rising faster.

Allen and the committee discussed possible approaches rather than immediate votes. Allen suggested coalition building among similarly sized municipalities and proposed a "hold harmless" provision that would guarantee localities a minimum percentage of revenue they contribute, invoking a partial return-to-origin concept. "We keep the formulas in place... but maybe we take a portion of that growing local government fund and we add a hold harmless provision," he said, while acknowledging that beneficiaries of current formulas would resist changes.

Committee members also raised Waukesha's landlocked status as a structural constraint on growth and revenue: the chair and others noted statutory changes that let towns become villages, limiting annexation opportunities and complicating the city's ability to expand its tax base. Allen invited the committee to help draft a statutory definition of "landlocked" and to consider whether relief should come via expanded levy authority for defined communities or targeted adjustments to supplemental aid.

Members stressed political realities. Allen said a full overhaul of the shared-revenue program would be difficult because political coalitions protect existing allocations, so incremental tweaks to the supplemental-aid mechanism could be more feasible. He also highlighted that shared-revenue allocations fell from nearly $1,000,000,000 in 2003 to $753,000,000 in 2019, and that the expenditure restraint program (ERP) payment levels have not been raised in about 20 years.

The presentation closed with Allen offering handouts and a PDF of his research; he gave a contact email and website for follow-up. The committee asked questions but took no formal action. The chair reminded members of an Aug. 25 budget session and adjourned the meeting.