TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT TOO LITTLE BUSINESS

MARK KASS

There has been a area or lot of talk and grand- draw new businesses standing in recent to southeastern months by community Wisconsin. leaders about regional Business leaders cooperation in the still contend that the Milwaukee area as, for community must the first time in recent address two major memory, the leaders issues before any of the seven counties significant change that make up south- occurs in national eastern Wisconsin are business perceptions actually working of the Milwaukee together. area—high taxes The effort, being and ever-escalating led by the Metropolitan health care costs. Milwaukee Association “They can hold of Commerce (MMAC) hands and talk about and the Greater how great it is to Milwaukee Committee, is a five-year, $12 million work together, but with our high level of taxes, plan to bring together the leaders of Milwaukee, it is going to be hard to convince businesses to Waukesha, Washington, Ozaukee, Racine, move here from other areas of the country,” Kenosha, and Walworth counties to increase eco- said a political observer. “You have to get peo- nomic development and draw new businesses to ple to look at consolidation.” the area. Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker The group even has a logo and name was very blunt in his assessment of the mar- (Milwaukee 7) aimed at showing the rest of the keting effort. state and the nation that the community lead- ers can get behind the effort, even though it “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still has Milwaukee as its name. The highlighting a pig,” Walker told the Milwaukee Rotary of Milwaukee has been a sore spot in past Club in late October. attempts at regional cooperation. Walker, who is running for governor, And while most political observers admit that believes the effort to market the seven-county any regional cooperation is better than the acrimo- region will be severely hampered unless health ny and border wars the Milwaukee area has seen care, labor, and government costs are controlled. in the past several decades, some contend that the Mark L. Kass is editor of The Business Journal Serving effort will not cure all the ills that impact the Greater Milwaukee. Wisconsin Interest 41 Health care costs are 55% higher than the The amount of infrastructure spending is national average in the Milwaukee area, forcing overwhelming. employers to reduce spending in other parts of For example, several years ago, the city of their business in order to compete against busi- Franklin spent $9 million to build a new police nesses in other parts of the country. station. A year later, the city of Oak Creek spent Walker was heavily criticized for his $11 million to build a new police station. remarks, but even members of the MMAC Around the same time, Greendale municipal have admitted more needs to be done than set- leaders built a $4 million public safety building ting up a web site and coming up with a and village officials in Hales Corners are cur- catchy slogan. rently considering replacing their police station. “All the attractive marketing we do of our All of these communities are within five region will be of little use unless the economic miles of each and could easily serve the other reality of the region is equally attractive,” community if consolidation was considered. Steve Baas, MMAC’s governmental affairs However, a proposal to just consider consoli- director, wrote in an opinion piece in the dating the police dispatch services for Franklin October 29, 2005 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. and Hales Corners went nowhere when it was discussed several years ago. Governmental Layers Add in county government, which has The biggest issue facing the southeastern many of the same departments and a large Wisconsin region is the level of property taxes governing board. In Milwaukee County alone, that residents and businesses must pay. almost $1 million is spent annually on salaries Business leaders constantly complain about the alone for the 19-member County Board. multiple layers of government that exist in southeastern Wisconsin. “On my 10-minute drive from South Milwaukee to Milwaukee, I go through four For example, in Milwaukee County, there communities,” Tim Sullivan, president of are 19 municipalities; in Waukesha County, Bucyrus International, a South Milwaukee there are 37 municipalities; while in Ozaukee manufacturer, told a crowd at The Business County there are 16 municipalities. Add in Journal’s Power Breakfast in September. “It is county governments and state government an inefficient way to run a community.” and businesses face multiple layers of bureau- cracy that add costs and red tape in seeking Sullivan has first-hand experience dealing approval for projects. with the multiple layers of government as he recently put together a deal to allow his com- And none of that takes into account the pany to expand in South Milwaukee. more than 30 school districts in southeastern However, he had to deal with governmental Wisconsin that have their own taxing powers, officials at the city, county, and state level to along with the Milwaukee Metropolitan get the deal done. Sewerage District and the technical college sys- tem. Bucyrus announced plans to invest as much as $95 million to renovate its sprawling Consider that each Milwaukee County manufacturing complex in South Milwaukee. community has its own police department, Bucyrus management considered relocating its recreation department, health department, and, plants due to high operating costs in southeast- in most cases, a library, rather than sharing any ern Wisconsin, Sullivan said. Houston topped of those services. They each have a mayor or the list of cities Bucyrus considered. village president and a common council or vil- lage board to oversee the municipality. In the Bucyrus was also at the center of another city of Franklin alone, more than $75,000 is recent attempt to get regional cooperation, spent annually on salaries and expenses for a unfortunately this one failed. part-time mayor and six aldermen. 42 Winter 2006 Sullivan pushed South Milwaukee to con- Municipal officials are working with state sider an offer from Milwaukee Mayor Tom legislators to try to come up with a solution to Barrett to buy water from the city of keep Glendale in the fire pact. Milwaukee, rather than spending more than $6 In Waukesha County, Delafield and million to upgrade its own water system. Oconomowoc are talking about merging their Sullivan rejected the argument that South fire departments. They’ve even taken the next Milwaukee would lose local control if they step of reaching out to other surrounding com- bought water from Milwaukee. munities, such as Dousman, Nashotah, “From our standpoint, we’re obviously a Hartland, the villages of Oconomowoc Lake company that uses a lot of water in the city of and Chenequa, along with the towns of South Milwaukee, and we want the most eco- Oconomowoc, Summit and Delafield. nomical and logical solution,” he said. “There’s no reason why we need to have Losing local control is an “attitude we our little kingdoms,” Delafield Mayor Paul have to overcome here in southeastern Craig said in the November 17, 2005 Milwaukee Wisconsin to get our costs down,” he said. Journal Sentinel. “We need to work together.” Past Efforts Delafield and Oconomowoc officials There have been have determined a attempts over the past merged department decade for municipalities would save the cities a to look at sharing ser- total of $10.7 million over vices, but most have There’s no reason why 25 years. failed due to territorial objections that normally we need to have our But some efforts have follow any call for consol- not been so successful. idation. little kingdoms. The city and village of Pewaukee failed in an The most successful attempt to merge their has been the North Shore communities. In Fire Department, which Milwaukee County, plans was formed in 1995 and for Cudahy and South serves Whitefish Bay, Milwaukee to share fire Shorewood, Brown Deer, services ended after Cudahy officials voted River Hills, Fox Point, Glendale and Bayside. down the idea, citing cost concerns. The communities cover about 25-square Regional Resentment miles and have a combined population of about 62,000. The merger has resulted in better There is also some early grumbling about service, lower fire insurance rates and other the regional marketing effort, giving some evi- savings for the communities and has been dence that the cooperation may not last that widely lauded as an example of communities long. working together. Just two weeks before Barrett and the lead- But even that effort hit a major roadblock ers of the seven counties in the Milwaukee area this fall when Glendale threatened to pull out announced the regional economic develop- after complaining it was paying more than its ment initiative, Barrett and Milwaukee County fair share of the department’s costs. City offi- Executive Scott Walker led a letter-writing cials are concerned that within three years, campaign to the federal Bureau of Indian Glendale will be paying almost 40% of the tab Affairs opposed to the plan for a development and that major capital expenses, such as a new at the Dairyland Greyhound Park site in fire station, are looming. Kenosha. Wisconsin Interest 43 Kenosha and Racine officials are big sup- “The Zoo is located in the cen- porters of the Menominee Indian Tribe of ter of an area that is vital to the economic Wisconsin's plan for an $808 million casino, growth of our region,” said state Sen. Ted hotel and entertainment complex. The rub is Kanavas (R-Brookfield). “If you want more that the Kenosha casino is opposed by the companies to relocate to southeastern Forest County Potawatomi, who operate the Wisconsin, you have to provide the infrastruc- Potawatomi Bingo Casino in the Menomonee ture for growth.” Valley near downtown Milwaukee. The Several political observers said the region- Potawatomi group has the support of Barrett, al approach will only work if elected officials Walker, Milwaukee Common Council presi- can put aside their individual communities' dent Willie Hines and Visit Milwaukee. needs in favor of what is best for the region. “It was unusual timing to say the least,” But that is difficult when they face re-election said a political source. “On one hand, they're every four years by residents who want saying, 'Let's work together.' But on the other improvements in their own communities. hand, they are trying to block economic devel- “You have to try and balance what is best opment in two of the main players' areas.” for the region and what is best for your com- Patrick Curley, Barrett's chief of staff, said munity,” said Wauwatosa Mayor Theresa Barrett was just protecting a major economic Estness. “I know that having a strong city of investment in the Milwaukee area that pro- Milwaukee helps Wauwatosa. And I know that vides thousands of jobs to city residents and I can help the region by having a strong busi- up to $12 million in payments to the city and ness climate and getting businesses to locate the county. here.” “The mayor's first job is to protect the city Milwaukee and Wauwatosa recently com- of Milwaukee and its businesses and that is peted with Glendale for Manpower Inc.’s new what he is doing,” Curley said. “He is a big corporate headquarters, which is currently in supporter of regional cooperation and is Glendale. Manpower executives decided in pleased with the movement in that area in mid-December to move from Glendale to a recent weeks.” new building that will be built along the Milwaukee River in downtown Milwaukee. Racine County Executive William The city is providing a $25 million tax incre- McReynolds said he was disappointed by mental financing district to help finance the Barrett's and Walker's opposition to the move. Kenosha casino. He said it would create more than 3,300 jobs. “You have to work hard to try and make a deal work, if not in Wauwatosa, then in anoth- “We need the jobs in Racine County and er Milwaukee community,” Estness said. “The the casino could be very beneficial to our resi- other option could be that they move to anoth- dents,” he said. er state, which would be terrible for the The casino debate is not the only issue that region.” is dividing the region. But some community leaders and munici- “Waukesha County representatives were pal officials believe public assistance was not upset that Governor Jim Doyle allocated funds necessary in Manpower’s case because the in the 2005-'07 state budget for the rebuilding company never threatened to leave the of between Milwaukee and the Milwaukee area. The employees working at Wisconsin-Illinois border, putting it ahead of the Glendale headquarters, which has a any work planned for the congested Zoo Milwaukee mailing address, will just move to Interchange,” McReynolds said. the new headquarters.

44 Winter 2006 Glendale officials were unhappy about a lower taxes and recruit businesses. They cite major corporation being wooed from their city. Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Sacramento, where regional cooperation has become com- “I really have mixed feelings on this one mon between bordering communities. because you are talking about the second- largest public company in the state that had In Minneapolis, local governments share record earnings last year,” said Richard their tax bases by pooling revenue attributable Maslowski, Glendale's city administrator. to growth in property value and use the result- “That is a lot of money to be offering for a ing revenue to provide regional amenities. move of about five miles.” “We need to identify regional champions Other Regions and set a vision for the region,” said Jeffrey Browne, president of the Public Policy Forum. Community leaders have held up other “It can no longer be everyone for themselves.” communities as examples where consolidation and regional cooperation have worked to

Wisconsin Interest 45