The Wisconsin State Senate overwhelmingly approved in a 21-10 vote a $250 million public-funding plan for a new arena in downtown Milwaukee, ending months of debate on whether the project deserved taxpayer support.

An amended arena-funding bill, which was the subject of heavy last-minute negotiations the past few days, provides matching funds that the Milwaukee Bucks owners said they needed to match $250 million they have pledged for the project. The team faces an NBA deadline to play in a much-improved home arena by fall 2017.

Team executives have said the new arena immediately north of the BMO Harris Bradley Center will take two years to construct.

The bill the state Senate passed Wednesday at about 5:45 p.m. now heads to the state Assembly and after that to the desk of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Walker has supported a public funding plan since early this year.

Republicans control the Senate 19 to 14 and two Senators were not present for the vote. Three of the four Democratic state senators from Milwaukee supported the bill with the exception being Sen. Tim Carpenter.

The Assembly is considered more likely to approve the arena-funding plan, but again some votes may be needed from the minority Democratic Party.

The plan calls for the state of Wisconsin, Milwaukee County and the city of Milwaukee all to pay a share of the public costs. The amended bill also establishes a $2 per ticket surcharge to help pay down arena construction debt.

Milwaukee Bucks team president Peter Feigin issued a statement shortly after the Senate vote calling it “a significant step forward in our collective effort to build a new sports and entertainment district in Wisconsin.”

Feigin, who had said Milwaukee could lose its NBA franchise without approval of public funding for an arena, said the team appreciated the bipartisan leadership in Madison for bringing the arena project “one step closer to reality.”

Feigin said the team respected the final package negotiated by legislative leaders.

“It’s our first step to building this. We couldn’t be more excited,” he said.

The Bucks objected to the bill’s $2 per ticket surcharge for all events at the new arena.

“We’ve been very vocal about anything that increased the cost to the end user,” Feigin said. “It is not something we would have encouraged or like, but we’re very happy with where we are.”

Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee), who voted for the bill, said the vote shows Democrats can collaborate with Republicans. He cited the economic development potential not only of the new arena but also new development the Bucks owners plan in the long-vacant Park East corridor north of the arena site.

“The Park East will not only see a new stadium, but new restaurants, hotels, apartments, and other development, which will be a net benefit to our community," Larson said. "At a time when Wisconsin is losing business after business, has stagnant wage growth, along with the fastest shrinking middle class in the country, this deal must get done.”

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, which championed public funding of the arena since even before the Bucks were sold in May 2014, lobbied for the bill and lauded the Senate vote. MMAC president Tim Sheehy called the arena a “transformative project” that will create tens of millions of dollars in new revenue for the state, thousands of new jobs, and hundreds of millions of dollars in new economic development downtown.

“This is a game-changing moment for Milwaukee and the entire state,” said Sheehy. “I am extremely pleased that legislators on both sides of the aisle politically were able to come together around this exciting vision of a brighter future.”

Local government approvals remain for the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County portions of the public-funding plan.

The Milwaukee Common Council will consider a $47 million contribution consisting of a new parking garage near the arena and a new tax incremental financing district.

The Milwaukee County Board and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele — who rarely agree on anything these days — will need to figure out how to pay the county’s $4 million annual contribution. The bill passed by the Senate removed a plan Abele had negotiated that would have covered the costs by transferring county debt-collection efforts to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.

Abele said the Senate bill would create a $4 million annual gap from money the state would withhold for arena payments and blamed Larson for insisting on revamping the county-arena-funding plan.

“Because that’s now been eliminated by Senator Larson, we’ll have a $4 million per year hole in the county budget and I haven't heard boo about how that’s supposed to get filled,” Abele said.

Despite Abele and Feigin’s misgivings about the arena-funding plan, the controversial measure was the subject of a fairly brief session in the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) removed the arena-funding plan from the main state budget at the insistence of some of his Republican members. He then had to negotiate with Democratic Minority Leader Jennifer Schilling and Milwaukee Democrats to win their support for a proposal that was negotiated without their input.

Fitzgerald said the strong pro-arena vote in the Senate will send a message to the Assembly and he believes Assembly representatives ultimately will approve the bill.

 

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