GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Wisconsin has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars on government building costs alone.
That’s according to State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk, who appeared on WTAQ’s Jerry Bader Show Wednesday morning.
Adamczyk pointed to two deals that were agreed upon in the year 2000.
He says the state agreed to pay roughly $90,000,000 over 20 years to lease the old American Family Insurance headquarters in Madison for the Department of Corrections.
Adamczyk notes the $5,300,000 being paid each year to utilitze the property is likely the building’s current value and reminds that the state will have no equity in the facility at the end of 20 years. He says the $90,000,000 has been “squandered” and is “gone.”
On the other hand, Adamczyk says state officials did a much better job in buying Department of Revenue’s headquarters for $45,000,000, paying less money and receiving ownership rights.
The treasurer, who touts the financial benefits of buying over renting, says the state court has been renting its facility for the last 45 years, asking “who does that?”
According to Adamczyk, the questionable deals may not be over. He says the state is looking into the possibility of building a crime lab in the Milwaukee area.
While the building could cost roughly $70,000,000, Adamczyk says bonding would account for an additonal $30,000,000.
If the state decides on the new facility, he encourages borrowing the funds from the Board of Public Lands so the money can be paid up front. The agency would then repay the board, which Adamczyk notes gives that money to taxpayers by means of public school funding.
Adamczyk says he’s working with state legislators on ways to find cost savings and get out of bad deals.
