CHICAGO - Milwaukee's cultural and entertainment venues need at least $445 million over the next two decades to cover capital improvements and fund the public's estimated costs of a new Milwaukee Bucks professional basketball arena, according to a task force report.
The report says $34 million in new annual funding is needed. About $11 million would fund improvements at the Milwaukee Public Zoo, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Milwaukee Public Museum, and the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. Another $8 million would go to cover overdue maintenance needs. A new Bucks arena to replace the BMO Harris Bradley Center would require $15 million.
If operational subsidies are added in, the annual bill would rise to $45 million. The task force also suggested other potential uses if sufficient funds were raised through various taxing suggestions, including aid to county parks and transit.
The Cultural and Entertainment Capital Needs Task Force released the report this week. It was formed by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce to review the area's cultural funding needs and recommend a means to finance them.
A new arena carries an estimated price tag of $500 million, with about $350 million expected to come from the new owners of the National Basketball Association team and other private sources. Public funding of about $200 million would be needed.
The task force offered up a menu of funding options, including taxes on beer, liquor, and cigarettes, the establishment of a tax-increment financing district to tap into new property taxes generated by development, a ticket tax, or a sales tax hike.
A 30-cents-per-pack cigarette tax hike could generate more than $19 million, a $3 tax on a barrel of beer in Milwaukee and adjacent counties could generate $3.8 million, and a $5 tax on tickets to attend events at the cultural institutions in line to receive funding could generate about $12 million a year, according to the report. A local option sales tax increase of 0.10% in the four-county area could raise more than $25 million annually.
The new revenues could go to repay borrowing for the projects. The $445 million does not include the additional costs of interest on any borrowing.
The 48-member task force is expected to present more detailed information on targeted funding options at its next meeting later this month.
Former Sen. Herb Kohl sold the team earlier this year for $550 million to a group of buyers led by Wes Edens and Marc Lasry. As part of the sale, Kohl pledged to contribute $100 million toward the cost of the new arena. While Kohl made keeping the team local a requirement of the sale, a clause allows the NBA to buy the team from the new owners if a deal on a new arena is not in place by late 2017. The league has been pushing for a new stadium to replace the 26-year-old 18,600-seat arena.
The new owners have been meeting with local elected officials and groups to try to raise support for public funding for a new multipurpose arena and have said they hope to zero in a new site by the end of the year. The Bucks lease runs through the 2016-2017 season.
The community group Common Ground is pressing its Fair Play Campaign which calls for the inclusion of at least $150 million in funding for improved athletic and recreational facilities in schools across Milwaukee County in any public funding package for the Bucks.
