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Cavalier Johnson: “We have to use that money for specific purposes that are…”

Featuring: Cavalier Johnson, Democratic | Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting

Published August 11, 2026 | Video Starts at 20:40

A sales tax in the City of Milwaukee. But that money is not money that we can apply to just any space or any place. We have to use that money for specific purposes that are strictly outlined in state law. So that means we have to use those dollars to pay legacy pension obligations. And then with. On the other side of doing that, with money that happens to be left over. (20:40–20:46)

CLAIM

Asserts that the collected sales tax must be used for specific purposes as per state law.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Cavalier Johnson

“If shared revenue had simply kept pace with inflation over the course of the last three decades, Milwaukee would receive about 250 million…”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 19:31-19:48
“Without the sales tax, Milwaukee would have become insolvent.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 21:07-21:12
“If we didn't do that, then roughly half of the Milwaukee Police Department would have been gone.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 21:24-21:30
“Roughly a quarter of the Milwaukee Fire Department would have vanished.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 21:30-21:35
“Milwaukee opens 176 different polling locations on election day, with literally hundreds and hundreds of voting wards.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 04:30-04:44
“At our vote count in Milwaukee, it's accurate and we've got a number of precautions that are in place.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 06:48-06:56
“We in the city of Milwaukee, like every other place all around the state, we follow the law.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 06:58-07:03
“The system is designed to catch [election] mistakes. And the ultimate backstop are recount elections which we have engaged in over the…”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 07:17-07:29
“I said that the investigation that the FBI was engaging in here was an attempt to undermine faith in American democracy.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 07:51-08:00
“There seemed to be no justification for the investigation and the evidence of wrongdoing is entirely absent.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 08:05-08:12
“The President's administration and the way that they are applying the forces, the federal agents of federal forces in their administration…”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 08:21-08:30
“Milwaukee is in the Trump administration's target this way too, with overly aggressive immigration prosecution.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 10:21-10:30
“Individuals who commit acts of death, harm or destruction in our community should be held to account, including individuals who come here…”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 10:49-10:59
“What we're seeing here with the Trump administration's application of immigration law has been entirely, entirely inappropriate.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 12:08-12:19
“Masked ICE agents, and unmarked vehicles smashing car windows. This sort of stuff. It is simply just unacceptable in a civil society.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 12:22-12:33
“A local man who was arrested for deportation, even though he's in the midst of legal proceedings to gain permanent residency, when he's…”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 13:47-14:05
“The record of shooting deaths by ICE agents is alarming in Minnesota and in Maine and Texas.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 14:15-14:23
“The federal government has simply failed us on immigration policy.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 14:24-14:29
“Joe Biden...worked very closely with...Senate Senator Lankford out of Oklahoma, on a bill to strengthen border security and immigration…”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 14:38-14:56
“Donald Trump...called up members of Congress and said, don't support that because that hurts him politically.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 15:02-15:14
“State law says we must increase the number of police and firefighters.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 18:30-18:34
“The 2027 city budget will again exceed $2 billion.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 18:41-18:47
“Last year, I had a budget hole that we had to climb out of about $100 million to balance the budget.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 19:52-20:00
“The budget gap is not as big, but it is similar in size. It is still pretty big. It's about 96, $97 million that we've got to climb out of.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 20:04-20:15
“We can now collect a sales tax in the City of Milwaukee.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 20:34-20:36
“We would have a lower standard and quality of life in the City of Milwaukee if we had not had Act 12 pass.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 21:51-22:01
“I'm wrestling with again is a gap of about $100 million.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 22:38-22:44
“We have already received several responses, hundreds and hundreds of them.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 23:26-23:32
“I'm hopeful that we can modify state law in the years ahead to add flexibility to the revenue that we receive in the city of Milwaukee.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 24:56-25:05
“The decisions that we make here, what happens out of Milwaukee, affects the entire state of Wisconsin.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 25:42-25:47
“I can't tell you how disappointed I am in the fact that the state has not granted, in a clean way the ability of the city of Milwaukee to…”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 26:34-26:43
“We're the largest city in the state of Wisconsin. Like, you know, roughly 10% of the state's population lives right here in the city.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 27:14-27:22
“The Act 12 law requires us to grow the number of police officers in the City of Milwaukee.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 28:41-28:48
“I will... continue to put budgets forward that fully fund classes out of our police academy.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 30:50-30:58
“This year, 2026 is the year of housing.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 33:07-33:12
“We used a lot of federal dollars from President Joe Biden's administration, American Rescue Plan act dollars.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 34:03-34:11
“We invested a significant amount of those dollars into housing to take city owned, taxable coast properties.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 34:10-34:18
“The City of Milwaukee has a workforce housing policy that we're enacting to help especially those young professionals.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 35:23-35:32
“We're implementing a new tool with some of our partners like the Community Development Alliance, the Habitat for Humanity, others to create…”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 35:41-35:52
“We've supported down payment assistance for folks in the City of Milwaukee who will become homeowners in the city.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 36:05-36:12
“When I became mayor, we had our first zoning update.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 36:25-36:30
“We have a police department in the city of Milwaukee that does a lot of really incredible work to keep our community safe each and every…”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 37:58-38:12
“The police department is a data-driven agency.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 38:32-38:45
“There's also an anonymous tip line as well. It's 414-224-TIPS.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 39:10-39:19
“The city was on the verge of financial collapse.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 43:02-43:06
“We took 2,000 kids not just from Camp Rise, but from other programs around the city to a ball game at American Family Field.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 47:27-47:37
“We started with 200 boys, the biggest complaint that we got was that girls weren't allowed. So now we've expanded it. Now we've got a couple…”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson at Rotary Club meeting | Uploaded August 11, 2026 | 48:30-48:40