MacIver News Service reports that Mayor Tom Barrett's folly, the streetcar in downtown Milwaukee, will have a dramatically heftier price tag than originally advertised.
The price tag for a controversial streetcar in Milwaukee continues to grow, with the revelation from Wisconsin’s utility regulators that costs to move utility lines for the boutique transportation project could exceed $70 million.
Cynthia Smith, general counsel for the Public Service Commission, explained the new figure in a letter to two Republican legislators who want to know if ratepayers outside the City of Milwaukee will be on the hook for paying for the costs.
THE PROJECT
The $64.6 million, 2.1-mile rail line would be funded by $55 million in federal transit aid (previously allocated twenty years ago) and $9.7 million in tax-incremental financing district funds. Supporters assert that rider fares, downtown parking fees and advertising revenue will the $2.65 million annual operating cost. The Milwaukee Common Council has approved the project although they have withheld the release of funding for the project pending additional information regarding associated costs such as those described by the PSC in their letter to the senators.
THE ASSOCIATED COSTS
As we reported last month, Racine County Republican State Senator Van Wanggaard sent a letter to Public Service Commission Chairperson Phil Montgomery seeking more information about the proposal.
In their response to Wanggaard and fellow Republican State Senator Leah Vukmir, the PSC confirmed the utility-related costs associated with the project could exceed $70 million.
...“At this time, it does not appear that the City has identified an “adequate health, safety or public welfare justification” for the Streetcar Project and therefore the utility (and its ratepayers) would not be obligated to pay for it. Rather, the project appears to be proposed by the City in its “proprietary” capacity and not in the exercise of its police powers and the costs should likely be borne by the City.”
Wanggaard believes the PSC’s letter alleviates his concerns that Racine utility ratepayers could be responsible for paying the cost of moving telecom and other utility infrastructure to construct the Milwaukee line.
“I am pleased that the Public Service Commission agrees that the costs of this purely local project should be paid for locally,” Wanggaard said. “My interest in this project has been, and continues to be, ensuring Racine residents are not picking up the tab for this Milwaukee transportation desire.”
In 1949 a consulting firm told the city it was time to get rid of its previous streetcars, saying, among other things, Milwaukee lacked the population density to make their operation feasible. March 2, 1958 was the last time a streetcar ran its route in Milwaukee. Since then, the population density of the city has decreased by nearly half.
You knew that this streetcar would involve millions of additional dollars. That was a given.
Does the city of Milwaukee have a spare $70 million just gathering dust at the moment?
This is insane.
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