Official: Bucks arena investment would aid state

Wisconsin's revenue secretary touted a proposed investment of $250 million in taxpayer money for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena Friday as good for the entire state, even in the face of a $250 million funding cut to the state university system.

Speaking to Press-Gazette Media journalists, Secretary Richard Chandler said spending taxpayer funds on a $500 million project to replace Milwaukee's Bradley Center would show a return on investment of better than three to one on the state's $80 million share of the funding package by producing $299 million in income taxes over 20 years.

The income would go to bolster spending that benefits people across the state, he said.

"We collect $6.5 million a year in income taxes" because of the Bucks, Chandler said. "That's $130 million over 20 years ... it is a good deal from the taxpayers' point of view." He said a new arena would enable the state to realize an additional $169 million in taxes.

Gov. Scott Walker has proposed helping to fund an arena to keep the Bucks from leaving the 27-year-old Bradley Center for a city where the team could make more money.

The National Basketball Association could buy the Bucks and relocate the franchise if there isn't significant progress toward a new arena by 2017.

Chandler acknowledged that concerns exist about the proposal, including that the administration has proposed cutting the state's public university budget by a comparable $250 million. Chandler said a new arena would generate revenue that could be used for future education funding.

"It's going to bring in, over the next 20 years, $169 million more, and all of that is money that will make it easier to provide funding for the university if that's what people want, or to fund K-12 schools," he said. "It will make future budgets easier. It will make a bigger pot of money available for all those needs in the future."

Walker, in a plan called "It's Cheaper to Keep Them," has said the state would lose $419 million over 20 years if the Bucks left.

His plan has come under criticism from some conservatives because it relies on $250 million from taxpayers. Current and former owners of the Bucks have committed another $250 million and will cover any cost overruns.

In addition to the state's $80 million share, the Wisconsin Center District would issue $93 million in bonds. The city of Milwaukee would pay $47 million, including a new parking garage, and Milwaukee County would issue $80 million in bonds.

The Wisconsin Center District would own the new building, Chandler said.

Authors of some studies about taxpayer-funded stadiums say the investment doesn't repay the public. A 2008 working paper by Dennis Coates and Brad Humphries of the North American Association of Sports Economists found "the nearly unanimous conclusion (that) tangible economic benefits generated by professional sports facilities and franchises are very small."

Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, said constituents with whom he's discussed the proposal overwhelmingly oppose it.

"It's people across the political spectrum," Jacque said Friday. "They have a variety of concerns with the proposal as it's been presented."

The financing deal announced last week by Walker, Republican legislative leaders and Milwaukee officials must be approved by the Legislature and Milwaukee Common Council.

Community and business leaders have said the Legislature must quickly approve the deal or it could fall apart, raising the prospect of more delays and the possible loss of the Bucks. Lawmakers have been talking privately about whether there's support to put the financing plan in the $70 billion state budget or break it out separately. The budget is expected to pass later this month, and some backers of the Bucks deal worry that breaking it out into a separate bill could delay action for months or longer, jeopardizing the deal.

Ralph Hollmon, president of the Milwaukee Urban League, said the issue boils down to jobs and the economy.

"We need the jobs, the tax revenue and economic vitality this project will create," he said. "We should view it as an investment in our future ... At the end of the day this is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. This is an economic issue."

— dschneid@greenbaypressgazette.com and follow him on Twitter @PGDougSchneider

— The Associated Press contributed to this story.