Park Funding Alternatives

Recently, there have been several attempts to make the argument that the budget of Milwaukee County requires that we tax park users. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The policy of the Milwaukee County Board and the Milwaukee County Executive's Office for years has been to simply throw more money at problems instead of trying to look for efficiencies and alternative revenue sources. Elected officials are supposed to be good stewards of the taxpayer's money. Requiring more and more money to “fix” the budget is no answer.

I can hear you already. “OK Tim, what specific ideas do you have?” Let's start with the parks department as this is the current budget item that is causing the biggest uproar at the moment. In my opinion, the Milwaukee County Park System is one of the departments that has the greatest opportunities for revenue generation that doesn't include taxes and user fees. Corporate sponsorship is everywhere. There is an official something of something else all throughout our society. Why should local governments not take advantage of these opportunities? Milwaukee County has fifteen golf courses in the park system. Wouldn't it make financial sense to sell sponsorships to the major manufacturers of golf equipment to take the burden off of the taxpayers? Would Dretzka Golf Course brought to you by Calloway or Oakwood Golf Course sponsored by Ping really make people not go because they have sponsorships?

We can do the same in other areas of the park system. A bit of advertising in and near the parks is, in my opinion, a small price to pay for increased financial security that doesn't cost the taxpayers and visitors a dime. This is just the low hanging fruit. Who knows what else we can find if we just dig a little deeper, think a little harder. These are conversations we need to have in our local government. The taxpayers of Milwaukee County deserve to be treated like people not piggy banks.