Under the 2020 budget proposed by Mayor Tom Barrett, the Milwaukee (WI) Police Department would go from 1,864 to 1,804 sworn officers.
According to the Journal-Sentinel, Barrett told the Milwaukee Common Council as he presented his proposed $1.6 billion budget Tuesday morning that the cut in number would take place through retirement attrition, not all-out layoffs.
Barrett said that the budget must account for an anticipated increase in pension contribution coupled with state-imposed limits on methods for raising revenue, rising costs of providing services and flat shared revenue payments from the state.
"The reduction is fiscal, it's not philosophical," he said.
