Proposal Uses Lead Abatement Funds for Marketing
Ald. Lewis proposes using lateral replacement funds for council's "community outreach."
A 2020 budget amendment from Alderwoman Chantia Lewis would take $50,130 from a city lead abatement program to create a new position focused on supporting events created by Common Council members.
“We have in the City’s Clerk office a community outreach liaison who is by her lonesome and maintains 15 alders,” said Lewis during the Finance & Personnel Committee’s October 31st budget amendment meeting. “It’s a lot of work to do Bronzeville Week, Hip Hop Week, the 4th of July parade, Harvest Fest and all of the other things.”
Lewis introduced the amendment, the 97th and final one considered by the committee, as a loose amendment meaning it wasn’t available for public review before the meeting. Discussion on the amendment came at approximately 8:30 p.m., almost 11 hours after the meeting had first started.
She found support from Ald Russell W. Stamper, II who asked to be added as a co-sponsor.
To fund the position, $50,130 would be removed from the $5.2 million lead service line replacement fund. The fund is used to replace the approximately 75,000 lead laterals that connect homes to the city’s water system. Replacing all of the lead service lines is estimated to cost over $750 million.
Through June 30th, 2019 the cost to replace both the publicly and privately owned portions of a lead service line was averaging $10,683 according to a July Milwaukee Water Works (MWW) report.
The impact of approximately five fewer lead service line replacements would not be directly felt in Lewis’s far northwest side district. Because she represents a relatively newer area of the city, hers is the only council district that hasn’t had a lead service line replaced.
But Stamper, Lewis’s co-sponsor, has had 210 laterals replaced in his district, the third most of any district. A MWW report from July notes that this represents 2.9 percent of the total laterals in the 15th Aldermanic District.
All 15 of the city’s council districts have been home to children that have tested positive for lead poisoning, which regularly occurs because of paint and soil-based sources in addition to water.
MWW is scheduled to replace 1,000 lead laterals this year and has a total of $12.4 million to do so through a variety of programs. Almost all of the lead-in-water abatement work is locally funded, while the city receives federal grants to treat lead paint. The 2019 city budget includes over $20 million for lead-related issues.
Lewis’s amendment passed on a 3-2 vote, with Lewis, Stamper and Milele A. Coggs voting in favor. Jose G. Perez and Michael Murphy voted against the proposal.
Since January 1st, 2017, the city has mandated replacement of both the publicly-owned portion of the lateral that connects to the water main under the street and the privately-owned portion that connects to the building. When either portion has a leak or break, the entire pipe must be replaced. Similarly, if the utility disturbs or disconnects a lead lateral as part of work in the street, the entire thing is required to be replaced. In addition, as part of the 2017 budget city officials funded a program to replace all 385 lead service lines in use at child-care facilities in the city. That work had not been completed as of July 2019 due to non-compliance from the facility operators.
The amendment is one of dozens the Common Council will consider during its November 8th budget adoption day.
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More about the 2020 Milwaukee Budget
- City Hall: Council Overrides Every Barrett Veto - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 26th, 2019
- City Hall: Barrett Issues 8 Budget Vetoes - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 19th, 2019
- This afternoon the City of Milwaukee just got less safe - State Rep. Bob Donovan - Nov 8th, 2019
- City Hall: Council Cuts Police, Adopts $1.6 Billion Budget - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 8th, 2019
- City Hall: Proposal Uses Lead Abatement Funds for Marketing - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 7th, 2019
- Transportation: Street Safety Funding Passes Committee - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 6th, 2019
- Omnibus budget amendment supports birthing moms pilot, violence interrupters, participatory budget initiative and more - Ald. Milele Coggs - Nov 1st, 2019
- Eyes on Milwaukee: Proposal Would Fund Emergency Housing - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 31st, 2019
- City Hall: Proposal Gives Residents a Basic Income - Jeramey Jannene - Oct 31st, 2019
- City Hall: Community Outpouring Over City Budget - Isiah Holmes - Oct 14th, 2019
Read more about 2020 Milwaukee Budget here
More about the Lead Crisis
- Baldwin Delivers $850,000 to Reduce Lead in Schools and Childcare Facilities Throughout Wisconsin - U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin - Aug 29th, 2024
- Baldwin Delivers Over $83 Million to Replace Lead Pipes, Expand Access to Safe Drinking Water - U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin - May 2nd, 2024
- Congresswoman Gwen Moore Statement on Milwaukee Designation as Workforce Hub - U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore - Apr 26th, 2024
- Biden Announces Milwaukee As New “Workforce Hub” For Lead Pipe Removal - Jeramey Jannene - Apr 25th, 2024
- Senator Baldwin Delivers Nearly $2 Million to Keep Wausau Families Safe from Lead Contamination - U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin - Apr 12th, 2024
- IRS Rules that Homeowners Won’t Have to Pay Additional Taxes for Subsidized Replacement of Lead Pipes - Milwaukee Water Works - Feb 29th, 2024
- Milwaukee Makes It Far Easier To Replace Your Lead Service Line - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 18th, 2023
- Congresswoman Gwen Moore Praises Biden Administration Effort to Remove Lead Pipes in 10 Years - U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore - Nov 30th, 2023
- Biden-Harris Administration Announces Partnership with 10 Wisconsin Communities to Accelerate Lead Service Line Replacement as Part of Investing in America Agenda - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Nov 2nd, 2023
- Evers, DNR Announce $402 Million Funding to Improve Local Drinking Water - Henry Redman - Oct 24th, 2023
Read more about Lead Crisis here
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