Wisconsin Republican lawmakers announced a $700 million plan Monday to use state and local dollars to fund renovations at American Family Field and ensure the Milwaukee Brewers stay in the city until 2050.
Under the plan, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said around $200 million would come from Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee, while the Brewers would also contribute around $100 million for the stadium improvements.
“The entire plan is focused on making sure that the people who come into the ballpark — that’s the players and the fans — are the ones who are entirely responsible for helping to keep the team here,” Vos said at American Family Field on Monday.
The bill was introduced Monday. Vos said he expects a vote to occur sometime in October.
The plan comes months after Gov. Tony Evers proposed spending $290 million of the state’s budget surplus to fund improvements. Weeks after that announcement, Vos said that deal was likely “dead.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Evers said his administration is disappointed that Republicans rejected the governor’s “commonsense proposal.”
“Gov. Evers looks forward to reviewing Republicans’ proposal and continuing conversations on a plan that provides additional flexibility and minimizes harm for local partners while ensuring we keep this important economic driver and thousands of jobs in our state,” the statement said.
Local, state leaders respond
The city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County would make annual payments of around $7.5 million through the deal until 2050.
“The most direct economic benefit for keeping the team here accrues to the city and county of Milwaukee,” Vos said.
Even so, local leaders have opposed paying for improvements. In May, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution opposing the use of county tax dollars to fund long-term renovations of the stadium. A joint statement released in July by five Milwaukee alders also said they believe no local tax dollars should be spent on the deal.
“We believe firmly that NOT A DIME of the funding should be footed by City of Milwaukee taxpayers,” stated that joint letter from Alder Jonathan Brostoff, Alder Lamont Westmoreland, Alder Larresa Taylor, Alder Mark Borkowski and Alder Russell Stamper, II.
After the announcement, Milwaukee County Supervisor Ryan Clancy said he believes the plan “does not make sense.”
“Both city and county government in Milwaukee has already said no to this,” Clancy said.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said he was encouraged there’s a renewed bipartisan push to ensure the Brewers stay in Milwaukee. But he expressed a desire to see less of a burden on local taxpayers.
“Do I have issue with the local contribution? Yeah, I do,” Johnson said Monday morning.
“As we all know, city residents are also county residents in Milwaukee, so we would be paying twice,” he added.
Assembly Democratic Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, and Assistant Democratic Leader Kalan Haywood, D-Milwaukee, released a statement saying they believe the plan places too much of a financial burden on Milwaukee.
“We remain willing to continue conversations and hopeful that a bipartisan agreement can be reached,” the statement said.
