Steve F. Taylor
Press Release

Abele Targets Suburban Homeowners to Pay for Bucks Arena

Under a proposal in the legislature some Milwaukee County suburban homeowners could have their property taxes used to offset the county’s payments for the Bucks arena.

By - Feb 18th, 2016 08:15 am
Arena Rendering.

Arena Rendering.

Under a proposal being advanced through the state legislature by County Executive Chris Abele, some Milwaukee County suburban homeowners could have their property tax payments diverted to offset the county’s payments for the Bucks arena.

“Here we go again,” said Milwaukee County Supervisor Steve F. Taylor of Franklin. “Garnishing suburban residents’ wages to pay for the Bucks arena was a bad idea the first time the County Executive proposed it.  Nothing has changed.”

Assembly Bill 885 and Senate Bill 735 would automatically subject suburban homeowners who are behind on their property tax payments by just 90 days – the equivalent of one installment payment – to a 15 percent surcharge, and the more aggressive collection tactics of the state, including wage garnishments, tax intercepts, and liens. Mayor Tom Barrett refused to sign off on a similar arrangement for City of Milwaukee taxpayers during arena negotiations in July. City homeowners would not participate in the program under the bill negotiated by Abele, either.

“This is just one more example of the County Executive’s pathetic negotiation skills,” said Taylor. “Except this time, the County Executive was hoodwinked into condemning suburban homeowners in order to spare city taxpayers. Last I checked, Abele was obligated to serve all county residents, not just a select few.”

The bills were introduced about a week ago without input from the County’s Comptroller, Treasurer, or Clerk of Courts, the officials currently charged with overseeing the county’s debt. As a result, all three elected officials provided testimony in opposition to the bill at a recent Assembly Committee hearing.

“First Abele goes to the state legislature to create the Comptroller as an independent elected office,” explained Taylor. “Now he’s gone back to the legislature to take away the duties of the Comptroller. If the bills weren’t so ill-conceived, I would say the County Executive’s behavior was comical.”

According to a June, 2015 report by the County Treasurer, approximately 1,450 suburban properties would be immediately affected. Although the bill allows the County to defer entering into an agreement with the state until December, 2016, homeowners in all 18 of Milwaukee’s suburban municipalities will be impacted once the bill takes effect.

“First Abele commits the county to $80 million for a Bucks arena, now he’s asking our suburban residents to shoulder the cost,” lamented Taylor.  “This County Executive is tone deaf to the needs of our residents, but even worse, he’s been derelict in his service to them.

Arena Renderings

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

Mentioned in This Press Release

Recent Press Releases by Steve F. Taylor

Supervisor Taylor Congratulates Speaker Ryan for his Leadership

Shares Ryan's Concerns about Divisions Wrought by Identity Politics

County Board Approves Land Swap Between Milwaukee County and Private Developer

"The land swap between Milwaukee County and Capstone Quadrangle is a win-win for everybody involved."

Comments

  1. Gary says:

    Hooray! and PTL.

  2. AG says:

    1. Framing this as suburban vs city is false and is only used as a fear tactic.
    2. Pay you property taxes. It’s one’s responsibility as a land owner in order to maintain our services. If you don’t like getting a surcharge that goes anywhere, let alone the arena, pay your taxes on time… or at least within 3 months!
    3. We should have a more rigorous system for collecting unpaid taxes to begin with. It’s about time the state takes over this function.

  3. Casey says:

    Pay your taxes….or we’ll end up like greece.

  4. Mike says:

    This is a very poor quality press release. Press releases should be completely factual and not littered with opinons.

    With that said, why are people upset about delinquent tax penalties? You are supposed to pay your taxes. I’m all for helping people when they are down, but delinquency costs the county a lot of money. Who is going to cover the interest when we it is required to borrow due to untimely payments? Penalties make sense.

Leave a Reply

You must be an Urban Milwaukee member to leave a comment. Membership, which includes a host of perks, including an ad-free website, tickets to marquee events like Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair and the Florentine Opera, a better photo browser and access to members-only, behind-the-scenes tours, starts at $9/month. Learn more.

Join now and cancel anytime.

If you are an existing member, sign-in to leave a comment.

Have questions? Need to report an error? Contact Us