MILWAUKEE — Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is no fan of using state taxpayer money to pay for a new Milwaukee sports stadium.
Vos told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board on Monday (http://tiny.cc/5mpiyw ) that he does not support extending the five-county Miller Park tax for a new arena. Vos said he also opposes a new sales tax to pay for such a project to replace the Bradley Center.
"I don't necessarily buy into the philosophy that our whole country has that we need to have higher taxes to support major arenas so that they can pay the players even more beyond their million-dollar salaries," Vos said.
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce is leading the way toward discussion of a new multipurpose arena that would house the Milwaukee Bucks. It expects to name a panel of business and community leaders to study whether an arena should be built, where it should be built and how it would be financed.
"If they were able to put together a regional partnership and they could convince taxpayers either through a referendum if it was a new tax or through some sort of economic development model that is more innovative than just asking taxpayers to foot the bill, I certainly would be open to looking at that," Vos said.
Vos, whose legislative district covers much of Racine County, said voters there would reject an arena referendum.
