City gets new limits on funding streetcar
Walker declined to veto parts of budget
Milwaukee will get new — and apparently symbolic — restrictions on funding its streetcar and its neighborhood business districts, under the state budget signed into law Thursday.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker declined Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s request to veto those provisions, along with one that nearly doubles Marquette University’s amount of property tax-exempt land.
Walker’s list of 99 vetoes of the 2017-’19 budget didn’t include the items Barrett requested. Walker’s spokesman didn’t respond immediately to a request for information about the reasons the governor declined to veto the items.
Barrett said the budget items amount to hostility from Republican state legislators and Walker toward Milwaukee, which he called Wisconsin’s “economic engine.”
“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Barrett said, “because all three provisions were really what we felt were attacks on local government, and more specifically, attacks on Milwaukee.” The budget includes: » A ban on Milwaukee using state transit aid or local funds generated through tax incremental financing districts to pay for streetcar operations. Tax financing districts use property taxes generated by new development, which diverts that revenue from a city’s general fund, its school district, county and other local governments.
However, Milwaukee’s streetcar isn’t using either funding method.
The streetcar’s 2.5-mile initial route, to start in fall 2018, runs from the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, 433 W. St. Paul Ave., through downtown to the city’s lower east side. It includes a lakefront loop to open in 2019.
The project’s $128 million construction budget is funded with a $55 million federal grant and money generated by Milwaukee tax financing districts. The $3.2 million annual operating budget will be covered by fares, advertising revenue, federal grants and cash from city parking meters and parking lots.
Rep. Jesse Kremer (R-Kewaskum) sponsored the funding ban. He said it is needed to stop a “looming threat” that the streetcar would seek state cash.
“Obviously there is hostility toward the city of Milwaukee, and what’s unfortunate is the hostility toward me personally is starting to show up in affecting public safety in the city of Milwaukee,” Barrett said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “And that to me is totally unacceptable.”
» Limits on raising cash by Milwaukee’s business improvement districts, key tools in redeveloping downtown and other neighborhoods.
The districts are formed by commercial property owners, who pay additional special charges on their annual property tax bills for items such as marketing campaigns and
events for the district’s stores and restaurants; street cleaning, landscaping and other beautification efforts; and security services.
Some of those special charges come from buildings that have a mix of apartments and street-level commercial space.
The new state budget says that charge can be based only on the value of the mixed-use property’s commercial space — and not the entire building’s larger value. Residential properties are exempt from the charges.
That would reduce the amount of funds paid to the districts, with the downtown Milwaukee district taking a roughly 2% annual hit. While there are business districts in communities throughout Wisconsin, the new restriction applies only to Milwaukee.
The Journal Sentinel has not been able to determine which legislator sponsored that provision.
» An expansion of Marquette University’s grounds that are exempt from property taxes from 80 acres to 150 acres.
That item could help the university with future expansions, such as Marquette’s planned Athletic Performance Research Center. Marquette and Aurora Health Care Inc. hope to develop the $120 million facility on 12 acres bordered by W. Michigan, W. Clybourn, N. 6th and N. 10th streets.
Barrett said that provision was discouraging given that city officials have helped Marquette pursue the research center’s development, and have invested in public improvements near campus.
Marquette spokesman Brian Dorrington said expanding the taxexempt grounds would allow the university to increase its public services, including community dental clinics and the university police department. He said it’s not tied to any specific project.
That provision was sponsored by Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield), who cited Marquette’s civic contributions, according to an Associated Press report.