Brewers Ballpark Subsidy Stings County Budget

American Family Field. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee County government, which is already facing a sizable budget deficit, is getting dinged an additional $2.5 million by the stadium deal between the Milwaukee Brewers and the State of Wisconsin

The stadium deal is yet another issue plaguing the county’s fiscal health, as it faces massive overtime expenses, lower than expected sales tax revenue and rising healthcare costs, all of which are blowing its 2024 budget apart. Current projections see the county coming in up to $19 million short.

In 2023, the Milwaukee Brewers organization cut a deal with the state legislature and Gov. Tony Evers that will see taxpayers provide $500 million in funding for upgrades to American Family Field in exchange for a guarantee that the team stays in Milwaukee until at least 2050.

As part of the deal, the state is withholding $2.5 million annually in shared revenue payments to the county. State legislation gave the county new financial mechanisms to cover those costs, but they were not signed into law until after county policymakers finalized their 2024 budget. The county will have the annual $2.5 million payments withheld through 2030.

While the legislation included revenue changes that can offset the impact of this reduction, it was passed after adoption of the 2024 budget and was therefore not previously accounted for, according to a July report by Joe Lamers, director of the county’s Office of Strategy, Budget and Performance.

The county was supposed to have a surplus cushioning it from the reduction in aid from the state, but that’s no longer the case.

Initially, the 2024 budget was supposed to an aberration in the county’s recent history: a surplus and filled with new investments in government services and infrastructure. All of it was thanks to the new 0.4% sales tax authorized by the Milwaukee County

But cost overruns, most of it for overtime in the Milwaukee County Sheriff‘s Office (MCSO) and at the Community Reintegration Center (CRC), put the county’s fiscal projection in the red within the first few months of the year. Now, county officials are anticipating that sales tax revenue will come in way below what was expected, effectively doubling the county’s budget deficit.

The county is now headed toward a budget deficit by the end of the year as high as $19 million, according to the Office of the Comptroller. And $2.5 million of this deficit is directly caused by the stadium deal for American Family Field.

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