Mary Spicuzza

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Republican legislative leaders are raising concerns about a plan in Democratic Gov. Tony Evers budget that calls for borrowing $40 million to replace lead pipes around the state — in part because they fear too much of the money would go to Milwaukee.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and state Rep. John Nygren, co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, told reporters at the state Capitol on Tuesday they instead support other efforts to prevent lead poisoning.

Nygren called for locally funded efforts, such as a recent GOP-backed measure giving local water utilities more flexibility from state rules as officials seek to replace lead pipes.

"My understanding is that the proposal — a vast majority of it — is going to Milwaukee," Nygren said. "We had targeted our response to the lead issue as a local opportunity for communities to get involved and provide assistance at the local level, rather than people from Marinette funding lead replacements in Milwaukee. I'm not sure that that's necessarily fair from a taxpayer standpoint."

He added, "Let's have the citizens of Milwaukee, if they want to get engaged in replacing lead pipes in private homes, that that would be more appropriate as a local program rather than a state program."

RELATED:Tony Evers proposes millions in next budget to replace lead pipes, improve dental care access

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Vos said the cost of replacing tens of thousands of lead service lines throughout Wisconsin would be too expensive and instead called for other options, such as using drinking water filters in homes.

The Rochester Republican added that he recently met with representatives of water filtration system companies who suggested spending money on filters rather than devoting millions of dollars to lead pipe replacements.

"I feel like the simple answer was to just say we're going to have government pay for all these lead lateral replacements," Vos said. "But the number nationwide is trillions of dollars, which we will never have the ability — at least in Wisconsin — to be able to do things like that everywhere across the state."

Evers responded on Twitter by posting a map of Wisconsin featuring lead-poisoned children around the state, asking, "Why the heck wouldn't we do everything in our power to fix this?"

'Petty and short-sighted'

City of Milwaukee officials bristled at the GOP lawmakers comments.

"It's very petty and short-sighted. All elected officials in the state take a sworn oath for the State of Wisconsin, not just for their districts," Milwaukee Ald. Michael Murphy said. "And to try to divide the state by saying that Marinette residents are heartless and not compassionate about helping children who have been poisoned by lead, I think, is very mean-spirited and divisive."

Other officials called for equity and pointed to the revenue generated by the city.

"The response from the GOP is completely unacceptable. When did MKE cease to be a part of WI?" state Rep. David Crowley tweeted. "When did our lives become less important than the rest of the state? The GOP never complains about the revenue created by our only 1st class city."

Milwaukee Ald. Chantia Lewis called for equity and equality when it comes to health and access to clean drinking water, adding that, "Something as precious as water is not just a local issue, it's a state issue."

"We have been isolated and lacking funding," she said. "If we were able to get some of our funding back that we actually generate, then we wouldn't have this large of an issue."

Under Evers' plans, state officials would be directed to borrow nearly $70 million more over the next two years to create a forgivable loan program for local governments to help pay for lead pipe replacements. The borrowing also would create a separate grant program that would allow farmers to build infrastructure aimed at reducing pollution and help rid contaminants in the Milwaukee River and St. Louis River in northwest Wisconsin.

Evers' proposal would pay for up to 50 percent of the cost of replacing a lead water service line in Milwaukee if the city qualified for the state program.

The proposed $40 million in bonding could lead to the replacement of 9 percent of the state's 170,000 lead service lines still in use, the Evers administration estimated.

Evers' plan comes as the City of Milwaukee is overhauling its efforts to combat lead poisoning among children.

RELATED:Milwaukee health officials privately worried that problems in 'messed up' lead program would become public

Problems with follow-up services for the families of lead-poisoned children shook Milwaukee last year, forcing the city's previous health commissioner out of his job. A number of other staffers with Milwaukee Health Department have since been disciplined or fired, or have resigned.

Mayor Tom Barrett and other local officials say they still believe lead paint is the primary source of lead poisoning in children, but have also been working to provide funding for lead pipe replacements.

The city's 2019 budget includes $20 million for addressing lead concerns, with $12.4 million of that used to address the risks of lead in water. Some of that money would be used to fund the replacement of 1,000 lead pipes and to buy water filters to be distributed to city residents.

The City of Milwaukee has about 70,000 homes with lead service lines.

Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mary.spicuzza.