City of Wausau · 2027 budget
End Wausau’s license plate camera program
Wausau has 20 Flock cameras at 11 points on its main corridors. They photograph every vehicle that passes, and nearly everyone in those photos is suspected of nothing. The Common Council can end the program through the 2027 budget this November without penalty, and the city would keep up to $100,000.
That’s about one every 11 seconds. It’s the average rate from the Wausau Police Department’s own transparency portal, which showed 233,355 vehicle sightings in the 30 days ending September 1, 2026.
- 20
- Flock cameras at 11 entry points, installed between February and July 2023
- 2.8 million
- vehicle sightings a year at the current rate
- About 205
- Wisconsin agencies can search Wausau’s cameras
- $100,000
- is still owed if the contract runs: $50,000 in December 2026 and $50,000 in December 2027
What we’re asking the council to do
In 2023 Wausau signed a five-year, $250,000 sole-source agreement with Flock Group Inc. that runs to December 15, 2028. Police have said the city is obligated to the full term, but the contract itself lets the city out if the council doesn’t fund it:
“Customer shall have the right to terminate this Agreement for non appropriation with thirty (30) days written notice without penalty or other cost.”
Leave the $50,000 Flock payment out of the 2027 budget
The contract makes every payment conditional on the council appropriating the money for it.
Send written notice of termination under Section 11.16
Send it the day the budget is adopted, and no later than mid-November, so the 30 days run out before the next invoice comes due around December 15. Include notice of non-renewal so the agreement can’t renew itself for two more years in 2028.
Pass a surveillance technology ordinance
It would require a public hearing and a council vote before any city department acquires plate readers, audio detection, drones, or similar technology from any vendor. Madison already has an ordinance like this, and Cottage Grove ordered one in September.
The city attorney should confirm that the signed contract matches the packet copy, and should confirm which budget year the December 2026 invoice is charged to. If it is charged to 2026, the council would first need a two-thirds vote to amend that budget, and the savings would otherwise be $50,000.
Key dates
- November 2026The Common Council adopts the 2027 budget. Last year’s budget was adopted on November 11. We’ll post hearing dates here when the city announces them.
- By November 15, 2026Written notice under Section 11.16 should be delivered by this date, so the 30 days run out before the next invoice.
- About December 15, 2026The next $50,000 Flock invoice comes due.
- December 2027The last $50,000 payment under the current term.
- December 15, 2028The agreement renews itself for two more years unless either side gives notice 30 days before.
- Why end the programThe longer version of the argument, with the contract language and the research.
- Who has left in WisconsinA table of the agencies that have dropped Flock since November 2025.
- Questions you’ll hearThe objections that come up in council chambers, with answers short enough for public comment.
- The reviewThe 41-page document this site is based on.
- Take actionHow to reach your alder, and a form to tell us you did.
Who’s behind this
Unflock Wausau is run by Felix Gallo, a Wausau resident. He wrote the review this site is based on and has sent it to members of the Common Council.