Madison, WI – David Crowley’s first general election ad asks Wisconsin voters to see him as the candidate who will make life more affordable. But the ad doesn’t tell the whole story of the mess he’s created in Milwaukee. His most recent Milwaukee County budget raised the property tax levy by roughly $12 million.
Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin (AFP-WI) identified what the ad leaves out of Crowley’s record:
- He raised the property tax levy three years in a row. Crowley’s 2025 recommended budget called for a 2.8% levy increase. The adopted budget carried 2.5%, which he praised as “sound, responsible budgeting.” His most recent proposed budget added approximately $12 million more.
- He campaigned for a sales tax increase, then wrote the bill to let every county have one, then implemented one in Milwaukee County. In 2020, Crowley called himself “a huge supporter of the 1% sales tax.” In 2022, while inflation was at a 40-year high, he said, “If I had it my way, what we would do is we would ask for a 1% increase on our sales taxes.” He was lead sponsor of A.B. 1020, legislation permitting any Wisconsin county to raise its sales tax in increments up to 1%. Later, he pushed for Milwaukee County to nearly double its sales tax in 2023, as part of a plan to avoid bankruptcy.
- Milwaukee taxpayers paid more and got less. A June 2025 audit found fewer than 40% of Milwaukee Public Schools students in kindergarten through second grade read at grade level. In the central city, the figure is 22%. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction withheld roughly $42 million in aid payments after the district missed about 80% of the deadlines in its own corrective action plan.
- The bill is still coming. Milwaukee County’s comptroller projects a $46.7 million deficit for 2026, growing to $168.7 million by 2031 without intervention. In March, Crowley named the Milwaukee Public Schools budget official who oversaw a $46 million overrun to run the county’s budget office.
AFP-WI State Director Megan Novak released the following statement:
“Seventy-two percent of Wisconsin homeowners will tell you they are not getting their money’s worth from their property tax bill, and Milwaukee County is the reason why they are right. David Crowley has been a consistent champion for higher taxes and wants every county in Wisconsin to follow his lead. Milwaukee families paid for all of it and got a school system where only 22% of central city kids can read at grade level. Wisconsinites should wonder why they are paying so much for those results and why they should trust Crowley with running the whole state given that track record.
“Tom Tiffany has committed to property tax relief and to a budget that does not ask Wisconsin families to pay more for less. That is why Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin is supporting him, and why we will be communicating this record to voters across the state through November.”