Homes in the Garden Homes neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Friday, March 8, 2024. Photographer: Jamie Kelter Davis/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Tiffany says Crowley increased property taxes five times; he’s lying, property taxes have fallen for five straight years in Milwaukee County
Oct 1, 2026, 1:29 PM CT
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Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor Tom Tiffany is either lying about Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley raising property taxes, or his campaign doesn’t understand the difference between the tax levy and the tax rate.
A new ad from Tiffany hits Democrat Crowley on raising taxes. “Crowley raised property taxes five times,” a narrator says.
But that is just flat out incorrect. The property tax rate, what each Milwaukee County homeowner pays, has fallen every year Crowley has been in office. Next year’s property tax bill drops $30 for an average $250,000 home.
The property tax levy, which is the county’s total revenue, and can only be increased from net new construction by state law, has increased the previous two years. But that doesn’t mean any homeowner is paying more, it means there are more taxpayers sharing the bill because new property, homes were built.
Under state law, a municipality is allowed to increase its levy over the amount it levied the prior year by the percentage increase in equalized value from net new construction. If no new construction occurred in your community, then your allowable levy increase is zero percent.
That’s the way it has worked since 2005, when Jim Doyle was governor.
For example, Oconomowoc Mayor Matt Rosek said during his 2027 budget presentation that net new construction increased the tax base and that “most homes” should not see a tax increase this year. He touted the budget as “fiscally conservative” and said “this is how cities should be managed.”
Crowley presented his 2027 budget to the County Board on Oct. 1, where he was sure to highlight the decreases.
“Keeping county property taxes as low as possible is my priority,” he said. “Milwaukee County’s tax rate has decreased every year I’ve been in office. And in 2024, we delivered the largest property tax cut in Milwaukee County history.”
Crowley proposed a balanced budget for a seventh straight year. In a different story, the Milwaukee Courier will cover the 2027 address, which included cutting funding for Flock cameras on county property.
Tiffany’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Drake Bentley is the general assignment reporter for the Milwaukee Courier, covering politics, sports and the community. He is an award-winning investigative journalist who has worked for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, Newsweek, Heavy and The Sporting News. He is a northside Milwaukee native, former political staffer and graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the University of Nebraska.
