The Miller Park sales tax — paid for the past 23 years by the residents of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington and Racine counties — will end March 31.

That decision was made in a unanimous vote Tuesday by members of the board that oversees the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, the Miller Park landlord.

The 0.1% tax, established to pay for construction of the Brewers' retractable roof stadium, has been in effect since 1996.

The tax has long been a lightning rod for criticism, though that criticism has lessened over time as Miller Park was becoming a popular summertime destination in southeastern Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Brewers, playing in Major League Baseball's smallest market, attracted 2.9 million spectators in 2019. That is the eighth best attendance in the major leagues, beating out large-market teams such as the Houston Astros and New York Mets.

The Brewers came within one game of making the World Series in 2018.

The stadium also annually hosts concerts and other events.

To date, approximately $605 million in taxes have been collected to pay for the construction of Miller Park and the Stadium District’s ongoing financial obligations to operate it. Since 2001, the Brewers have paid $19.8 million in rent to the district and another $106.8 million to maintain and enhance the ballpark.

Original projections called for retiring the sales tax in 2014. Those forecasts were based on estimated sales tax growth of 5.5% annually and did not anticipate the national recession in 2008. Instead, sales tax growth averaged only 1.1% per year between 2003 and 2014.

Tuesday's vote was somewhat of a formality. The board voted a year ago to retire the tax in March 2020, based on financial projections.

Also, the state Legislature passed and Gov. Tony Evers signed a law in late 2019 that required the tax to disappear by Aug. 31 whether or not the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District had paid off its bonds and satisfied reserve requirements.

Those obligations have been met and the state Department of Revenue has told retailers that the tax is no longer to be collected after March 31.

"The fact of the matter is when a tax like this is implemented, no one ever thinks it's going to stop," said Don Smiley, chairman of the stadium district board. "It stopped here today. It's an example of promise made, promise kept.

"We ended up with a great ballpark and a great facility," Smiley said.

The tax repays $290 million in construction debt plus interest for the stadium, which opened in April 2001.

The state law that created the tax allows the proceeds to be used only for costs related to the ballpark.

The Brewers contributed $90 million for the construction of Miller Park. The City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County each contributed $18 million for the construction of adjacent infrastructure. The state Department of Transportation contributed $36 million for the construction of adjacent state highways.

The fight to pass the tax was not pretty.

It cost George Petak, R-Racine, his state Senate seat. He was recalled from office after voting in favor of the stadium tax funding plan.

And, even though the controversy has simmered down, it hasn't gone away.

“I’m as big of a Brewers fan as anyone, but Racine County residents should not have to pay for a sports stadium in Milwaukee," Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave said in a statement after Tuesday's vote. "For (nearly) 24 years, the Miller Park sales tax has endured here despite little to no evidence the stadium has benefited Racine County."

"It’s gone. Hallelujah!" state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said in a statement. "Taxpayers more than held up their end of the bargain."

Since the beginning of its construction, the ballpark and the Brewers have "generated $2.5 billion in total economic output for the state of Wisconsin," according to a study by the firm Conventions, Sports & Leisure International and commissioned by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.

"Miller Park has been an enormously successful public-private partnership that has preserved Major League Baseball in Wisconsin ...," according to the study.

State Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, now co-chair of the powerful Joint Finance Committee in the Legislature, was one of the leading proponents for the law that created the tax.

Darling's Senate district includes portions of four of the five counties — Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Waukesha and Washington — where the stadium sales tax was levied.

"The history has been long and hard, but (the stadium) has been a great asset to us," Darling said.

"If you think about our perception as a sports state — you have the Brewers, the Bucks, the Packers," and professional golf events, Darling said. "We have really become known as a major sports center in our state and that is very, very good for our economy."

Asked if she could go back to 1995 and vote in favor of the tax again, she said she would, "Hands down. I wouldn't even have a second thought."

Contact Joe Taschler at (414) 224-2554 or jtaschler@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeTaschler or Facebook at facebook.com/joe.taschler.1.