Resolution Opposes a County Brewers Subsidy

American Family Field. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Milwaukee County Board will consider a resolution in May that would make it the position of the board to oppose a county subsidy for any future renovations at American Family Field.

The resolution is authored by Sup. Steve Taylor, who told Urban Milwaukee in a statement. “My priorities for Milwaukee County do not involve using taxpayer money to subsidize millionaire sports team owners. Milwaukee County taxpayers were promised that the ‘Miller Park tax’ would sunset in 2014 but ended up paying through 2020.”

Taylor’s legislation is in part a response to state-level discussions about a public subsidy for the stadium to ensure the Brewers remain in Milwaukee.

Gov. Tony Evers proposed using $290 million from the state’s $7 billion budget surplus to fund upgrades at the baseball stadium in exchange for the Brewers committing to stay in Milwaukee through 2043. State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos complained that the Legislature was left out of that discussion, and has since said Evers’ proposal will not be supported by Republicans, and that the team should pursue a public financing agreement similar to the one that subsidized the Milwaukee Bucks arena, Fiserv Forum.

This is where Taylor’s apprehension comes in. The county joined the state and the city in subsidizing the Bucks, albeit in a roundabout way. Since 2016, the state has withheld $4 million from annual shared revenue payments to the county to support construction of the Bucks arena. Those payments will run for 20 years, ending in 2036.

“Instead, I prioritize essential services such as parks, public safety, senior services, transit, and improving our roadways,” Taylor said. “These needs need to be addressed before any further tax dollars are spent subsidizing the wealthy.”

As Urban Milwaukee has reported, the Bucks deal included taxpayer support that totals approximately $800 million. And since this heavily subsidized deal was inked, the value of the team has skyrocketed, greatly increasing the wealth of the team’s billionaire owners Marc Lasry, Wes Edens and Jamie Dinan. Lasry recently sold his share of the franchise for approximately $875 million. He and Edens and Dinan purchased the team for an effective price of $450 million in 2014 (the deal was for $550 million with previous owner Herb Kohl promising to donate $100 million for the new arena).

But it’s not just the Bucks deal that was expensive: the Brewers’ stadium has benefitted greatly from public subsidy, likely in excess of $1 billion.

In his resolution, Taylor notes that the county gave the Brewers approximately $16 million in 1995 as part of the deal that financed the development of American Family Field.

Taylor also notes in his resolution that the $4 million the county loses every year to the Bucks deal is roughly equivalent to 20% of the property tax support for the parks department in 2023. In past years, like 2020, it was equivalent to more than 30% of the property tax support the department receives. “Milwaukee County is facing a fiscal cliff in 2025 severely hampering its ability to provide essential services to its residents such as transportation and support for the County Parks System,” the resolution states.

Taylor has three co-sponsors for his resolution: Supervisors Juan Miguel Martinez, Patti Logsdon and Ryan Clancy. This unites two conservatives, Taylor and Logsdon, and two socialists, Clancy and Miguel Martinez, in opposition to a Brewers subsidy. If the resolution passes, the county’s Office of Government Affairs will be directed to communicate its position to state policymakers “and to support legislation to keep the Brewers in Milwaukee without local property tax levy support.”

Taylor is the executive director of the ROC Foundation, which is the non-profit arm of ROC Ventures, the developer behind Ballpark Commons, a mixed-use baseball park that received significant public financing from the City of Franklin. Taylor served as a Franklin alderman and a county supervisor as the project went before both governments for key approvals and financing.