Superior, WI: How to Tax, Get Sued, and Shrink Your City All at Once

Welcome to Superior—where the winters are long, the taxes are high, and the legal bills are hotter than a mid-July asphalt parking lot. If you’ve been wondering how a small Midwestern city can simultaneously bleed residents, grow its budget, and rack up civil-rights lawsuits like they’re trading cards, grab a seat. This is your crash course in civic self-destruction.

Population Decline + Tax Hikes = The Great Escape

The numbers aren’t pretty. The city budget has swelled over 30% in just a few years while the population continues its slow-motion exodus. The school district? Down about 1,000 students, hemorrhaging state aid while administrators cash raises like they’re winning a slot machine.

Here’s the loop:

1. People leave.

2. Tax base shrinks.

3. Taxes go up to “cover the gap.”

4. More people leave.

It’s the municipal equivalent of trying to bail out a sinking ship with a bucket full of holes.

School District: Echoes in the Hallway

Every departing family takes their kids—and the per-student state funding—out the door. Classrooms designed for the graduating class of 1975 now serve headcounts you could fit in the mayor’s conference room. Instead of right-sizing spending, leadership doubles down on levy hikes. Because nothing says “stay in Superior” like paying more for less.

Civil Rights Lawsuits: Superiors New Growth Industry

While taxpayers are squeezed, Mayor Jim and the Clown Councils new major growth sector is civil rights lawsuits.

DoorDash Driver Tased, City Sued

In October 2024, Ian Cuypers, 22, filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit alleging Superior PD used excessive force during a traffic stop, and the taxpayers are now covering the tab again.

Pregnant Investigator vs. City Hall

In August 2025, Investigator Mikayla LeRette expanded her suit against the city and multiple police leaders. Allegations include:

• Pregnancy and sex discrimination under the 14th Amendment.

• FLSA violations for failing to provide lactation accommodations.

• Fourth Amendment violations for tracking her car without a warrant.

• Being reassigned and sidelined from duties male counterparts kept.

If the allegations hold water, Superior isn’t just bad at keeping residents—it’s bad at keeping the ones it employs from suing them.

Budget Priorities: Lawyers Over Residents

Instead of trimming administrative fat or fixing the root causes, City Hall is pouring cash into legal defense. That’s money that could be used to attract new families, fix infrastructure, or—wild thought—lower taxes.

The Death Spiral, Now with Court Dates

Shrink the tax base, raise taxes, ignore systemic issues, lose more people—now add high-profile lawsuits to the bill. At some point, you have to wonder: is the long-term plan to turn Superior into a historical marker for “what not to do in small-city governance?”

Mic Drop

Superior, you can’t tax your way out of population loss. You can’t lawsuit-defend your way out of multiple civil-rights violations. And you sure as hell can’t budget-inflate your way into growth when the people paying the bills are packing moving trucks. The lights will go out one day—and I hope the last person out sends the final bill to the City Clowncil, and Mayor Jim.