Milwaukee County may be eligible for more economic stimulus money than originally expected. So several supervisors have announced additional projects they'd like funded, that the county couldn’t otherwise afford. WUWM’s Marti Mikkelson has more.
Last week, the County Board overturned County Executive Scott Walker’s opposition to aggressively apply for federal stimulus money. But, after he was defeated at the Board meeting, Walker submitted a list of stimulus opportunities. Most were road and bridge projects.
Supervisor Theodore Lipscomb says the County Executive left a few items off the list. One is the Estabrook Dam on the Milwaukee River, just north of E. Capitol Drive. Lipscomb discussed its value at a news conference at the dam yesterday.
“I think it’s of significant interest to the people of Milwaukee County. The dam and the impoundment that’s created by the dam supports more than $108 million in property value. And it’s also a significant asset to three parks; Lincoln, Kletzsch and Estabrook,” Lipscomb says.
Lipscomb says the parks department will apply for more than $1 million in federal stimulus money to upgrade the dam. It was built 72 years ago and has since fallen into disrepair. Lipscomb says stimulus money is also available to improve safety on runways at Mitchell International airport…as well as $700,000 to upgrade county buildings. He cited a policy that requires buildings to be more energy efficient.
“Milwaukee County must apply for additional funds to improve many of the more than 600 buildings we own and operate. The green print policy previously adopted by Milwaukee County directs us to evaluate 20 percent of our buildings each year. We’re behind in this effort, but here is our opportunity to get back on track and become a leader,” Lipscomb says.
Lipscomb is chair of the county’s task force on economic stimulus. It formed in March to develop procedures for applying and accepting stimulus money. Supervisor Christopher Larson joined Lipscomb at Monday’s news conference. He says the task force will continue to meet until it’s exhausted all stimulus opportunities.
“By no means is that mission over. There are still other funds that are going to be useful for Milwaukee County that are going to help to alleviate the tax burden here by capturing federal dollars so it’s not on all homeowners to pay for that,” Larson says.
Larson and Lipscomb repeatedly asked why County Executive Scott Walker didn’t include the Estabrook Dam, county buildings and runway improvements on his list of stimulus possibilities.
Walker was unavailable for comment yesterday. Spokeswoman Fran McLaughlin didn’t have a comment on the dam repair and the building improvements. But, she says the county already has the money for the airport. It was part of a separate package the FAA gave to the airport prior to the economic stimulus money.
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