UWM land sale money sparks spending debate

Published: July 8, 2009
Tags: engineering campus, land sale, Milwaukee County, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Sean Ryan
sean.ryan@dailyreporter.com

Milwaukee County will get a $13.55 million windfall by selling land in Wauwatosa for a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee engineering campus.

But the land sale is putting the cash-strapped county’s elected officials at odds as they debate how to spend the money.

The county in May decided to sell 89 acres in the Milwaukee County Grounds to the UWM Real Estate Foundation Inc. for the new campus. The county will receive a $5 million check as soon as it inks the deal with the foundation and the remainder of the money in later installments.

The sale won’t be official for months, but at least four ideas are already circulating about how to spend the money.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors this month will consider Supervisor Joe Sanfelippo’s resolution to reserve $2 million for capital projects in the county parks system, which has an estimated $400 million backlog of maintenance and construction work.

“It makes sense to take at least a portion of the money and reinvest it into another hard asset that we have,” he said. “The last thing I want to see with this $13.55 million is to see it spent on operating expenses.”

Rob Henken agreed. The president of the Milwaukee-based Public Policy Forum, which has researched Milwaukee’s budget shortfalls, said it is foolish to sell property and spend the money on ongoing county operations rather than capital projects that will have more long-term value. Parks improvements would generate a long-term benefit, he said, as would paying for the debt the county has accumulated for capital projects.

Supervisor John Weishan Jr. said the money should be spent on capital projects, but parks are not the best place to invest. Parks projects have a better chance of receiving private donations — or the political support for a sales tax increase — than sewer work or debt payments, for instance, he said.

“You have to look at some of the less glamorous projects that are out there that are always difficult to fund,” Weishan said, “whether it be a couple of roads projects or sewer projects.”

County Executive Scott Walker wants the money spent on a new rapid bus line from the UW-Milwaukee campus in Milwaukee to the new campus in Wauwatosa, said Fran McLaughlin, Walker’s director of communications. The county’s $6.5 million share of the busing costs could be combined with $36.6 million in federal money reserved for county transit projects.

Weishan rejected that idea.

“I think it kind of defeats the purpose,” he said. “It begs the argument: Why wouldn’t you just put this on the current campus or closer to it?

If you have to spend $5 million on transit, that should’ve been factored into the land sale.”

Sanfelippo will have the chance to defend his parks idea to the County Board’s Committee on Economic and Community Development on Monday and the Parks, Energy and Environment Committee on Tuesday.

“A couple (ideas) were kicked around,” he said, “and there will probably be a lot more that get kicked around as we go forward.”

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