Supervisor Wants To Solve Zoo Traffic Back-Ups

Milwaukee County Zoo. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Since the Milwaukee County Board passed the new 0.4% sales tax, many things big and small are happening that once might have seemed out of reach.

The county was able to make historic investments in government services, while also reducing property taxes. Additionally, many infrastructure projects across the county are receiving funding thanks to the additional sales tax revenue in 2024.

Milwaukee County Sup. Shawn Rolland is hoping to use some of the year-end budget surplus the county is projecting for 2023 to reconfigure the entrance at the Milwaukee County Zoo. In years past, when budgets were tighter, policymakers had been less likely to spend money that could be used to balance a budget gap in the next year.

The project is aimed at resolving traffic backups at the zoo entrance, which occur frequently and spill out onto W. Bluemound Road and even around the corner to Highway 100, Rolland said.

“Because people are waiting to get in, and they’re stuck at the front entrance,” Rolland said.

The supervisor, who represents the area in Wauwatosa on the board, said he’s seen people stuck in a line of cars on Bluemound getting out of their vehicles and stretching, with traffic zipping by. “So, I think, number one is safety,” he said.

Secondarily, Rolland said the entrance is regularly creating traffic issues, which would be exacerbated by road construction. And thirdly, Rolland said it costs the zoo revenue. Zoo officials have seen cars peel away after getting stuck in the line for too long. “And if that happens enough times, you start to lose some real revenue from people who just wanted to enjoy the zoo,” Rolland said.

The plan is to move the the admissions booths and gate closer to the visitor center, so that zoo patrons could enter the parking lots and exit their vehicles before they queue for admission.

The zoo entrance was vetted by the county’s ad-hoc capital improvements committee in August and was included in a list of recommended projects for 2024 that went to County Executive David Crowley. Though, it was not included in the final budget by the county executive or the board.

Rolland has drafted a resolution headed for the county board in December that, as written, would use approximately $1.7 million from the county’s rainy day account for the project. But the supervisor said it is his hope that, at the end of 2023, the funding could be taken out of the year-end surplus.

The most recent projection from the Office of the Comptroller showed the county was on track for a $35.7 million year-end surplus. A year-end surplus means county departments were spending less on operations than they were budgeted for the year. It is different from the projected budget surplus for 2024, which was created by the sales tax and is the result of the government taking in more revenue than it costs to operate in its current state.

Rolland has opposed spending from the county’s rainy day account in the past when officials were expecting to use those funds to balance the budget at the end of the year. If the board hears a different year-end projection in December supervisors can decide then if there is still enough money for the zoo project, Rolland said.

Typically, year-end surpluses would be set aside in an account used to pay down the county’s debt. The zoo project is a one-time cost, and does not represent an ongoing financial liability for the county, Rolland said, adding that paying for it with cash eliminates the interest payments on any debt the county might otherwise issue for the project.

“So if we have one-time money that’s leftover at the end of the year, that could be used for a one-time cost that in my mind is urgent, and I think it’ll be urgent for others, then why not cross it off the list,” Rolland said.

But beyond the financial decisions and safety concerns related to the project, Rolland said it would also simply improve the Zoo experience. The supervisor specifically has young families in mind.

“Little kids, that window of time where they’re going to be fed, happy is narrow, right?” Rolland said. “So you want to get those kids into the zoo. You don’t want to have them spending their day stuck in traffic outside the zoo.”