County Board’s Questionable Decision on Old Loomis Road Raises Grave Concerns about Fiscal Responsibility
MILWAUKEE – Today, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors approved Resolution 23-578, diverting $225,000 from the County’s contingency fund to provide temporary pavement repairs for Old Loomis Road. In response to this vote, Supervisor Steve F. Taylor made the following statement:
“Today’s vote is yet another disappointing example of the Milwaukee County Board’s mismanagement of our limited resources. It’s disheartening to see them opt for a temporary fix that will last at most just 5-6 years, instead of seizing the much better opportunity we had only two years ago.
In June of 2021, the County Board had the chance to fully reconstruct Old Loomis Road at a cost of just $158,925 — thanks to a generous grant of $1,090,000 from the State of Wisconsin. That reconstruction project would have served us well for a solid 30 years. However, the Board inexplicably rejected this long-term solution without any discussion whatsoever, voting 17-0 against it.
Any educated person should ask, “why?” Why in the world would the Board make such a short-sighted decision in 2021, only to turn around and support a more expensive temporary fix today? It raises legitimate concerns. The Supervisors who cast these two peculiar, contradictory votes are Clancy, Coggs-Jones, Johnson Jr., Logsdon, Martin, Shea, Sumner, Wasserman, and Nicholson.
Milwaukee County is barreling full speed towards a fiscal cliff, and now we’re being asked to tax our residents another 0.4% to solve all the problems created by past elected officials. As the list of misguided spending and questionable votes taken by this Board grows longer and longer by the day, it becomes increasingly difficult for me to have confidence that any additional revenue will be spent wisely, responsibly, and with fiscal restraint in mind.”
Resolution 23-578 was approved by the Milwaukee County Board on a vote of 14-1, with Supervisor Steve F. Taylor as the lone dissenting voice on the issue.
The resolution now heads to the desk of County Executive David Crowley.
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.