The Shepherd Express board, like most people in Wisconsin, wanted to make sure that the Bucks franchise stayed in Milwaukee, and we applauded Herb Kohl and the new Bucks owners for putting up a combined $250 million toward the new arena that was required by the National Basketball Association to keep the franchise in Milwaukee. Gov. Scott Walker, to his credit, realized that the public contribution to the building of the new arena should be the responsibility of the citizens of the entire state, since a major sports franchise like the Bucks, Brewers or Packers truly are state treasures. Actually, the majority of the people coming to the Bucks games live outside Milwaukee County.
The process of putting together the deal to cover the public contribution was moving along fine and the state was prepared to bond for $220 million when Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele entered the picture and proposed to put Milwaukee County taxpayers on the hook for $80 million. No one should have been surprised, since Abele did what he always does and that is use money to try to impress people and to try to be important. In most circles, Abele’s financial commitment was viewed as one of the dumbest acts by this Milwaukee County executive or any county executive in the state.
Thanks to Abele, for the next 20 years Milwaukee County taxpayers will have to pay $4 million annually, which could have been shared by the entire state. Mr. Abele, this is not your father’s money to throw around, but rather the hardworking Milwaukee County taxpayers’ money. Four million dollars per year could have been used for improving our park system or the transit system, providing more care to senior citizens, stimulating greater economic development or just lowering our property taxes.
What $4 Million Means for Transit
What could Milwaukee County do with $4 million a year? We could lower our bus fares, which are some of the highest in the country. If we lowered the bus fares, it would leave more money in the pockets of the transit riders to spend in other businesses in our county. Also, when fares go down, ridership goes up, so more people would be riding our buses and driving less. Or our transit system could use that money to invest in upgrading our bus fleet by purchasing eight new buses at $483,000 a piece. Abele has chosen to issue bonds for 30 new busses for $14.5 million, with a small portion coming from the federal government.
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