New Assembly bill
to benefit our parks
NEEDS YOUR HELP!

To help provide badly needed funding for our ailing Milwaukee County Parks, State Representatives Christine Sinicki and Jon Richards, both from Milwaukee,  have introduced a bill (AB 504) in the State Assembly that would enable the County to impose a half percent sales tax increase for Parks and Culture in Milwaukee County. Our parks would benefit greatly from this increase and the bill would also include funding for other quality-of-life institutions subsidized by the County: the Zoo, Marcus

Performing Arts Center, the Public Museum, Villa Terrace, and the War Memorial Corporation. Importantly, the bill also would reduce property taxes by an esti9mated $38 million dollars in Milwaukee County.

(This was a move endorsed by Milwaukee County voters in a referendum last fall, but it requires legislative approval and the Legislature failed to follow through. The approved referendum was to permit a 1% sale tax increase, with the other half earmarked for transit improvements; the Legislature is considering the transit upgrade separately now.)  

As Richards notes, in the mid-1980s, the Milwaukee County Parks budget was $45 million. To keep up with inflation, that would be $88 million today. Instead, the current parks budget is down $2 million from the earlier figure – and a 20% cut has been urged by County Executive Scott Walker for next year. Richards also says parks staffing is anemic: 3 parks workers per 100 acres of parkland. In Chicago, the figure is 41 per 100 acres

Supporters of AB 504 nearly filled the room in which the Assembly Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on the bill recently. Speakers passionately outlined how closely our parks are intertwined with Milwaukee's history and culture, how parks benefit our local economy and property values and, most significantly, how parks affect the quality of life for all residents.

In early January, the Ways and Means Committee voted 6-4 along party lines (Democrats in favor, Republicans against) to recommend A 504 for consideration by the full chamber.
 
The next steps for POP and a new organization, the Public Parks Alliance, formed to lobby on parks issues, are to strongly advocate and, in the case of PPA, lobby to convince a majority of Assembly members to vote for the sales tax proposal. We especially need the support of Milwaukee-area Representatives who have not committed to back the bill. They are:

     *David Cullen (608) 267-9836
     Rep.cullen@legis.wisconsin.gov

     *Margaret Krusick (608) 266-1733
     Rep.krusick@legis.wisconsin.gov    

    *Tony Staskunas (608) 266-0620
      Rep.staskunas@legis.wisconsin.gov

Please contact your legislators regardless of whether you live in Milwaukee County or outstate and tell them how much their positive vote would mean to the future of our park system and quality of life for all Milwaukee County residents -- and visitors from elsewhere in the state.