Half of $500 Million Bucks Arena Financing to Come From Taxpayers Print
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Written by GBP Staff   
Friday, 05 June 2015 10:59

milw-arena-plaza"At a time when Governor Walker and Senate Republicans are cutting $250 million from our UW campuses, flat-lining funding for our public schools and eliminating funding for our state parks we should not be using state tax dollars to help pay the cost of a new arena." - Sen. Dave Hansen


MADISON - What did Gov. Scott Walker do with the $250 million in taxpayer's money he took from the UW system in the State budget?  He gave it to the millionaires who run the Milwaukee Bucks.

At a Thursday news conference in Madison with legislative and Milwaukee political leaders, Walker unveiled a deal on public money to help finance a new downtown Milwaukee arena for the Bucks.

On hand were Walker, Bucks management, GOP legislative leaders, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. These pols have been negotiating the terms of an arena deal in private, but that agreement isn't certain to pass the GOP-controlled Legislature.

The Milwaukee Bucks would be on the hook for any cost overruns on their proposed $500 million downtown arena, with the public's share of the expense for the facility capped at $250 million in borrowing under the financing deal to be unveiled Thursday.

Walker, who spoke in Waukesha on Thursday before taking part in the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run, said he's comfortable with the Bucks arena deal being taken up out of the budget - or in it - just so a deal is reached.

The arena is one of the major issues holding up the state budget, which is supposed to be completed by the end of June. Some in Green Bay wonder why Milwaukee should get this money for a sports complex while other important public needs statewide go unfunded.

dave-hansen-gbIn a statement issued Thursday, Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) said on the funding for New Bucks Arena:

“I don’t think the state should be providing taxpayer assistance of any kind for a new arena in Milwaukee. Despite the Packers providing significant revenue and economic support for our state and Bud Selig’s Milwaukee Brewers receiving state assistance, Brown County taxpayers were forced to go it alone when it came to paying for the renovations to Lambeau Field.

“Although I am a fan of the Milwaukee Bucks, at a time when Governor Walker and Senate Republicans are cutting $250 million from our UW campuses, flat-lining funding for our public schools and eliminating funding for our state parks we should not be using state tax dollars to help pay the cost of a new arena.”