GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Green Bay’s city council wants a city committee to take another look at the county’s plan to build a new expo hall.
WLUK reports that decision was made at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
On an 11-1 vote, the council agreed the city’s redevelopment authority needs to take another vote on the county’s $93 million expo hall plan.
The county needs all seven municipalities that collect room tax to agree to use the tax’s revenue to pay for a new expo hall to replace the aging Brown County Arena.
But the county also needs the city’s RDA to agree on the plan.
Last Friday, on a 2 to 4 vote, the RDA turned down the county’s plan.
County leaders and some council members, like alderman Joe Moore, believe RDA members were mislead on construction costs compared to other recently built convention centers and expo halls.
“The RDA voted on something that they were not informed correctly on. I think this needs to be referred back to the RDA so that the RDA can take another look at it.”
Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt has been among a handful of city officials opposed to the county’s plan.
Schmitt believes a better deal could be reached for the city, including possibly setting aside some room tax revenue to pay for a KI Convention Center escalator and a new parking ramp.
“We have some needs that were presented tonight,” said Schmitt. “Is there something we could work together on protecting KI-1 and KI-2 in the downtown, as well as building the expo hall, which we strongly support.”
The room tax plan is tied to the county’s half percent sales tax proposal.
The sales tax would last six years and pay for things like road repairs, library branch upgrades, and a jail expansion.
The county has set an August 15th deadline to receive the necessary approvals for both plans to move forward.
