GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Now that the Green Bay City Council has decided to move $2 million in excess Lambeau sales tax money from property tax relief to infrastructure, the question is what will that cash be used for?
According to Alderman Bill Galvin, there are some public works projects which are coming up.
“Steve Grenier, the Public Works director, he has roughly between $800,000 and $1 million worth of shovel ready projects,” Galvin said Wednesday. “We probably would’ve had to bond for it or taken out a loan to do it, so now we’ll avoid doing that which will save the taxpayers even more money.”
Galvin says they include upgrading some of the city’s pumping stations to deal with storm water issues and upgrading railroad crossings.
The council deadlocked in their vote on the plan to change how to distribute that $2 million before Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt cast the deciding vote after a marathon council meeting that ran from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
In all, $2.8 million will be used for improving Green Bay’s infrastructure, while $1 million will go towards economic development projects and $300,000 for replacing lead water pipes.
BEACH STUDY
Galvin says that with Grenier indicating a lack of staff to get other projects ready, the remaining $1 million or so excess stadium tax money that was moved by the council will go to the city’s Parks Department.
“Bay Beach is looking for funding to do a study on putting a new beach out there where people can go out and actually have a sand beach to relax on,” Galvin says. “We already bring in people from all over Wisconsin and outside of Wisconsin who come here to spend money because of Bay Beach, we enhance that with a beach you can actually go out to with your family for the day and relax? I think it’s going to bring even more people out.”
Last year, Mayor Schmitt unveiled his goal to bring the park’s beach back by 2018. A beach was removed from the park’s edge almost 80 years ago.
According to Schmitt, the new beach would stretch more than 1,000 feet from the park’s east end to where the giant slide is.
The study, which would help land a DNR permit, would focus on infrastructure needs, including bath houses, a pier extending 400 to 500 feet into the water, and more parking.
“You know this quality is as good as any other shoreline in the state of Wisconsin,” Schmitt said at the time. “With that and with the success of Bay Beach thus far, we think the next step is really to put the beach back into Bay Beach and this study will help us do that.”
Other potential projects include a nature center expansion at the Wildlife Sanctuary, the Grand amphitheater project at the Botanical Garden, and new exhibits at the Children’s Museum.
SHARK TANK
Part of what the City Council approved at its meeting this week is an application process and a timeline for groups to submit an application for part of the $1 million in economic development money.
Galvin is among the six members of the subcommittee tasked with reviewing and evaluating those projects. If you’re interested in filling out an application, Galvin says they will be available beginning Thursday online or at City Hall. The applications are due by 4 p.m. on September 23.
Galvin says they’re hoping to utilize a matrix developed by the Greater Green Bay Chamber of Commerce to weigh proposals and applications against one another. The former Green Bay police captain admits it does sound a lot like the ABC show “Shark Tank”.
“Actually there is a fella out there that talked to me about that and he’s putting a proposal together for just that,” Galvin remarked. “Where we could take a piece of this money and set it aside, have people come here who are willing to try and start businesses here. If it works, what does that do for your community? It means you can hire more people, you have more taxable income coming in. All of this has great potential to benefit everybody in Green Bay.”
Other members of the subcommittee include alderpersons Barbara Dorff and Guy Zima, along with staff from the city’s attorney, economic development and finance offices.
