The Way I See It!

Now maybe I'm just nitpicking, but do the phrases "top-notch development" and "national discount retailer" go together?  Maybe folks in Cudahy will buy into the notion that a discount retailer is "top-notch" development for a site in Cudahy's downtown area, but to me, the two don't seem congruent.

The problem with salespeople is that they only tell you what will sell the product.

The facts are that Cudahy borrowed over $10 million dollars to invest in Sportsites LLc site.

Cudahy still owes over $6 million of that the borrowing.

Sportsites LLC still owes the city of Cudahy over $6 million.

Wal Mart wants the city to forgive Sportsites LLC their $6 million they owe Cudahy.

Wal Mart wants to give Sportsites LLC an additional $6.6 million for the the land.

The net result, Cudahy gives up $6 million tax dollars, that they could have recieved from Wal Mart.  Sportsites LLC gets a $12.9 bailout including $6 million of taxpayers money.

Wal Mart could just wait until Cudahy gets its land back from Sportsites LLC and pay the City $6.6 million. Wal Mart could spend the $6.6 million to pay two other sites that available in Cudahy, and let Cudahy get its land back to sell to someone else.

What is the reason that Wal Mart is so unwilling to work with the City of Cudahy in trying to save $6 million in tax dollars? Is it because Wal Mart was brought in by Sportsites LLC through Continetal Properties just to get Sportsites LLC their $12.9 million price for land they bought from the citizens of Cudahy for $1?

Thus the City would have $16 million in outstanding debt at about 3.8 % on municipal bonds at an interest cost of about $608,000 per year. The taxes on a new Wal Mart and Waive would be at best $21 million value or $530,000 per year in new taxes. There would not even even be enough taxes to pay off the interest and 100% of the debt would be paid for by the Taxpayers.

The other problem of TIFs is that 100% of the "new taxes" go to pay oof the debts of the TIF, so ZERO money goed to pay for the police, fire, road, sanitation, health, and all the other services used by the new development. All these new costs are passed 100% on the rest of the taxpayers who are outside of the TIF.

The idea that TIF tax revenues are somehow Free, is a fairy tale, right now 18% of every Cudahy tax bill goes to fund  Cudahy TIF. That is 18 cents of evry tax dollar. If Cudahy could close its TIF tomorrow, everyone's tax bills would go down 18%.

TIFs REDIRECT tax revenues away from paying for police, fire, health, roads, sanitation, etc and send the money to developers. The new taxes created in a TIF district under state law, CANNOT be used to pay for the new fire, police, health, road, etc services used by the buildings. These new costs must be passed on to all the other taxpayers.

The idea of comparing Uihlien Socer Park with its 51 acers and 16 socer fields with the proposed 2.5 acre 4 field MILWAUKEE Wave socar center, is unreasonable. There is such a difference in size, location, and projected use, that one can not predict how the other would do.

Cudahy is being asked to spend $10 million just to bring the MILWAUKEE Wave to help sell the city of Cudahy. The Milwaukee Wave already has signed a contract with the Bradley Center that requires the "MILWAUKEE" name. How do you brand "Cudahy" using the MILWAUKEE Wave? I wonder how much of the $10 million paid by Cudahy taxpayers, ends up selling the CITY OF MILWAUKEE or MILWAUKEE COUNTY?

Remember the MILWAUKEE Wave is a private For Profit business, who has not made a profit since 1984. While they have been around for the past 25 years, there is no guarantee that the same owners will be around for another 25 years. In fact 50 years of the same sports team ownership is very rare! A number of the MILWAUKEE Wave's fellow leque members have gone belly up in the past few years, why should Cudahy Taxpayers take 100% of a $10 nillion risk? Let the business owners of the MILWAUKEE Wave bring at least 50% of the cost of their new building to the table. If they are not will to take a 50% risk, I do not see any reason for Cudahy Taxpayers to take a 100% risk.

Joe Henika

To quote from Joe "Wal Mart wants to give Sportsites LLC an additional $6.6 million for the the land."

Didn't Sportsites get the land from the City of Cudahy for a $1, because the city was afraid of clean up on the property?

HUH?