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The stadium tax is gone. But Milwaukee-area taxpayers might get a new bill to pay for ballpark's future improvements

From JSOnline:

Tom Daykin

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee-area sales tax which helped finance a stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers went away nearly two years ago.

But, area taxpayers might get a new bill to pay for the ballpark's improvements over the next several years.

That's because of obligations spelled out in the lease between the Brewers and the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District — a state-created public agency which owns what is now known as American Family Field.

The Brewers have commissioned a study of  improvements that are expected to be needed at the stadium through 2040. The team's lease runs through at least 2030, although the ballclub has options to extend it up to another 10 years.

That study, to be completed by summer, will include cost estimates for the projects.

If the costs exceed the stadium district's $87 million reserve fund, the difference could be billed to taxpayers in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington and Racine counties, under the lease terms.

To be sure, no one knows yet whether there will be a shortfall.

But, the Brewers are concerned there will be a gap, said Rick Schlesinger, the club's president of business operations.

Any projected shortfall should be immediately addressed, Schlesinger said.

"2030 will be here before we know it," he said at a Monday meeting of the stadium district board.

Schlesinger told board members the Brewers want to stay in Milwaukee through at least 2040. He also said the club doesn't need a new ballpark.

The team, however, does want a ballpark that "is suitable for the next generation," he said.

Schlesinger didn't elaborate on what a next generation ballpark would include.

But, he said, the stadium district's obligations under the lease include changes tied to the evolving standards of other Major League Baseball stadiums.

And, Schlesinger said, 14 MLB teams are planning major renovations over the next five to seven years.

The comprehensive stadium facility assessment is being done after the stadium district declined in 2019 to do its own study, Schlesinger said. Instead, the district board used a less-extensive evaluation, he said. 

That was around the time that the district's board was planning an end to the stadium sales tax.

The board voted in March 2020 to drop the tax at the end of that month.

Residents of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington and Racine counties paid the 0.1% sales tax starting in 1996.

At the time the tax was retired, $605 million had been collected to pay for the construction of American Family Field, previously known as Miller Park, as well as the stadium district’s ongoing financial obligations to operate it.

That population of the five-county tax area is around 1.77 million, so that comes to about $342 of tax collected per person over that 24-year period.

Since the stadium opened in 2001, the Brewers have paid $20.9 million in rent to the district, $112.7 million in capital improvements at the ballpark and $95 million in maintenance and cleaning, said Tyler Barnes, senior vice president of communications and affiliate operations.

Schlesinger said the club isn't seeking a return of the stadium sales tax.

Instead, he said a possible shortfall could involve a creative solution "that involves a lot of stakeholders." He didn't elaborate.

Schlesinger, in response to a question from board Chair Tim Sheehy, also suggested any such process could involve the club extending its lease.

One board member, Frank Busalacchi, said the current lease could result in the five Milwaukee-area counties getting billed if needed improvements at American Family Field cannot be covered by the stadium district's reserve fund.

Busalacchi said it's time for the state to "get out of the stadium business," with the Brewers assuming full responsibility for the ballpark.

Major League Baseball is "making pretty good dough," he said.

Meanwhile, any possible commercial improvements made outside the stadium, similar to the Titletown District near Green Bay's Lambeau Field, would be financed solely by the Brewers.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

From: https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/real-estate/commercial/2022/02/01/milwaukee-area-taxpayers-might-get-new-bill-ballpark-improvements/9289977002/

Baseball legend Hank Aaron, who began and ended his big-league career in Milwaukee, dies at 86

From JSOnline:

Tom Haudricourt

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

Major League Baseball and its longtime fans have been reeling for months as a lengthy list of Hall of Fame legends passed away, but the biggest blow of all came Friday.

The great Henry Aaron, who began and ended his big-league career in Milwaukee and was known as "Hammerin' Hank" for his successful pursuit of Babe Ruth's cherished home run record, died early Friday in his sleep at age 86. 

Former Milwaukee Brewers owner and baseball commissioner Bud Selig, who knew Aaron for 63 years and counted him among his closest friends, said he received news of Aaron's death from a longtime assistant of the baseball great. 

"I'm absolutely heartbroken, heartsick," Selig said. "This is so devastating. I know some people may quarrel with it but I've always said he was the greatest player of our generation. But he was a better human being. I'm so sad. 

"When you think back to what he accomplished on the field, he was an even greater man off it. He was the same nice, wonderfully decent human being that he was when I first met him in 1958."

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2021/01/22/baseball-legend-hank-aaron-who-played-braves-and-brewers-dies/6670475002/

Brewers' home opener is postponed because of positive coronavirus tests with Cardinals

From JSOnline:

Tom Haudricourt

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee Brewers' scheduled home opener Friday afternooon at Miller Park against St. Louis has been postponed because of positive coronavirus tests with the Cardinals travel party.

Jon Heyman of the MLB Network was first to report the game had been postponed because of positive tests with the Cardinals. A source confirmed that St. Louis' travel party was instructed to self-isolate in their hotel in Milwaukee. 

St. Louis played in Minnesota on Tuesday and Wednesday, and was off yesterday. If the Cardinals have to remain quarantined in their hotel, it could lead to the postponement of the entire weekend series at Miller Park.

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After three Miami players tested positive last Sunday morning in Philadelphia, the game against the Phillies was allowed to be played, and later several other players had positive tests, forcing the team to isolate in their hotel there. Neither the Marlins nor the Phillies have been allowed to play a game since, and MLB stepped in immediately this time to call off the Brewers-Cardinals game. 

Read more: https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2020/07/31/brewers-home-opener-vs-cardinals-postponed-positive-covid-tests/5554050002/

Bice: AT&T has been improperly charging stadium tax to some customers over last four months

From JSOnline:

Daniel Bice

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It's the tax that won't die.  

Members of the board for the Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District — the landlord for the Milwaukee Brewers' retractable roof dome stadium — voted unanimously to end the 0.1% stadium tax in March. 

But then the controversial tax generated an unexpected — and unwanted — $4.3 million surplus that took months before officials concluded they should return the money to the five-county region where it was levied. 

Now a number of local AT&T customers are complaining that they are still being hit with the stadium tax months after it ended. 

"Unable to get an explanation as to why AT&T is still charging .1% stadium tax on phone bills if tax ended in March," wrote Margaret Cortez in an email. "Charge appears on April, May, June and now July."

"I called AT&T and told them that that tax was no longer being collected as of April 1, 2020," chimed in Mary Jerominski of Cedarburg. "After being transferred a few times and put on hold, I was finally told that AT&T had 'nothing to do with that tax.'"

But, in fact, AT&T does have something to do with it. The company, it turns out, has been charging the stadium tax in error to some customers for the past four months. 

The company admitted the mistake this week.   

"We are working to resolve a billing system problem which prevented us from removing the tax for a small number of customers," said Jim Kimberly, a spokesman for AT&T. "We will fix it and automatically apply refunds to affected customer accounts."

The tax has long been a lightning rod for criticism, having taken several votes by the Senate to win approval and costing one lawmaker his political career.

But that criticism has lessened over time as Miller Park was becoming a popular summertime destination in southeastern Wisconsin.

Over the years, more than $600 million in taxes have been collected to pay for the construction of Miller Park and the 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.

Last month, Miller Park district officials disclosed that the tax had generated a $4.3 million surplus that they were left sitting on. They offered to return the money to the state, but the state initially turned them down. 

Weeks later, the state reversed course and agreed to take back the surplus funds, concluding they would return it to the five counties where the tax was charged. The tax, which started 23 years ago, had been in effect in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha and Racine counties.

Now it turns out that AT&T has continued the tax for some of its customers. 

Jerominski, the Cedarburg customer, said she realizes the tax is not huge. But she said that is not the point. 

"Pennies add up. I'd gladly accept whatever AT&T has collected in stadium tax from five counties over three months," she said. "Bet that's not pennies!"

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

From:https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/investigations/daniel-bice/2020/07/24/at-t-has-been-improperly-charging-miller-park-stadium-tax-customers/5493579002/

Brewers to open shortened season against Cubs at Wrigley Field

From The Journal Times.com:

• ANDREW WAGNER For Lee Newspapers

The Milwaukee Brewers will open the delayed and shortened 2020 season on July 24 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. 

KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI, ASSOCIATED PRESS

MILWAUKEE — So much about this baseball season is expected to be different but the Milwaukee Brewers will at least start the season exactly as they had planned before COVID-19 brought spring training to a halt back in March.

A source confirmed to the Wisconsin State Journal Monday afternoon that the Brewers will open the delayed and shortened 2020 season on July 24 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Prior to baseball's shutdown, the Brewers were originally slated to open their season with three games against the Cubs at Miller Park starting on March 26, with a three-game home series against the Cardinals to follow.

The rest of baseball's 2020 schedule will be announced on MLB Network at 5 p.m. CDT.

Teams will play 60 games this season with 40 of those contests coming against their divisional rivals and 20 more interleague contests against teams from the opposite geographical division.

For the Brewers, that means 10 games — five home, five road — against the Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates and Reds and five games against each team from the American League Central Division.

This story will be updated. 

From: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/brewers-to-open-shortened-season-against-cubs-at-wrigley-field/article_00e8d447-66a1-5262-8a9e-e3ef20e35bdf.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello, my friends!  How are you?  I'm doing OK.  The weather has been a little chilly compared to our warm December, but we're still ahead of the snow and cold game.  I almost hate to say it for fear of triggering a regular winter for the rest of the season.  Please stay away, o cold and snow.  Go up north where you belong.

Well, our erinaceous and jentacular Green Bay Packers were defeated this last Sunday by the San Francisco 49ers in their conference championship game.  To be blunt, I thought Aaron Rodgers was being lackadaisical throughout the game.  He seemed to be disappointed in his teammates' efforts and appeared to give up.  (  https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2020/01/21/green-bay-packers-buzz-aaron-rodgers-takes-heat-not-making-more-effort-fumble/4522132002/ ) What a shame.  The 49ers simply outplayed the Packers in all respects.  It was a horrible game to watch.  The first half was a slaughter of the Packers.  They came back to an extent in the second half, but they couldn't fully recover.  Enjoy the offseason,   our pauciloquent  Packers.  Rest well.  Prepare for next season.  No matter what, we still love you.

We do not love Mr. Mayor Cory 'Butterball' Mason and his attempt to continue stealing the funds for Belle TV/CAR 25.  Why is it that Racine seems to elect nothing but crooks?  What rocks do these pieces of garbage crawl out under from?  Can't we do better than felons in office?  Can't we hire an honest City Attorney?  Why do we always have to sift through any communique from City Hall, looking to separate the lies from fact?  What city department wants the basement space in the City Hall Annex, thus forcing out Toys for Tots?  Do any humans inhabit City Hall, or are all of them lying robots?  Seriously, go to hell!  May you all be indicted and start ratting on each other.  I can't wait.

I'll tell you, my friends, that I'm afraid of the virus that is coming out of China:



I don't trust the Chinese.  They could pretend that this is some sort of new virus that mutated out of chicken diseases, but they could also release some new genetically designed disease to overcome the world.  I don't put it past them.  The Asian communists are scary.  Just think of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.  What a nut job!  He gets along well with Mr. President Trump.  That should say something.  Two egomaniacs in a pod.  Oh my.

Here's some interesting news from the Milwaukee Brewers: Miller Park will become American Family Field in 2021.  The story in the Journal Sentinel Online states:  "The forthcoming name change is the result of a 15-year agreement announced last January by the Brewers and AFI, replacing the original 20-year agreement between the club and Miller Brewing Co. The ballpark will continue to be named Miller Park through the remainder of this year."  We're still paying for the faulty roof on that thing.  Sheesh!  They say that the sales tax surcharge we are paying for the roof will end this year.  I'll believe it when I see it.  No tax is ever revoked.  They'll just find another use for the money.

That's it.  Thank you, my dears, for reading my blog this week.  I love you all.  You are my family.

madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com

Please be sure to respect one another.  It's our best hope for peace.
________________________ 
Please donate: paypal.me/jgmazelis  If you don't like PayPal, send me a note at madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com and I'll send you my street address so you can send a check or money order.  Thank you.