Gov. Evers’ capital budget calls for $25M in Milwaukee County Courthouse updates

Gov. Tony Evers is proposing $25 million in his capital budget for renovations at the Milwaukee County Courthouse complex. 

The courthouse complex includes three buildings in downtown Milwaukee — the Milwaukee County Courthouse, the Public Safety Building and the Milwaukee County Jail. The majority of the renovations are related to the county’s nearly 100-year-old Public Safety Building, where many of the county’s criminal trials are held. 

“The building is severely outdated, functionally obsolete, has significant public safety and security issues, and does not reflect the quality of service for which the County is responsible,” Evers’ capital budget states about the project.

Milwaukee County District Attorney Kent Lovern said the facility houses criminal courtrooms that are too small and that are all connected by narrow hallways.

“The fact that everybody associated with a criminal case is literally walking past each other outside of courtrooms creates very tense situations,” Lovern said.

Most of the Milwaukee County District Attorney offices are inside the Public Safety Building. Lovern said the outside of the building is crumbling. Inside of the facility, he said, there are leaking pipes and problems with heating and cooling. 

The building once housed the county jail. 

“There are literally 10 floors on the interior of this building that are unused jail space, still old cells, that are completely useless, cannot be remodeled and are essentially wasted space in this building,” Lovern said. 

He said hundreds of people are in the courthouse every weekday.

“The building is certainly not filling the needs that we expect of a building of this magnitude each and every day,” Lovern said.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Steve Taylor is pushing for the renovations. He said the Public Safety Building is, “not up to today’s standards.”

“You have courtrooms that are so outdated and so small, it is uncomfortable for these trials, especially some of these very heated ones, where either you have victim’s families and the defendant’s families right next to each other,” Taylor said.

Plans to renovate the courthouse complex have been in the works since 2014, according to the capital budget.

“This project designs and constructs a new building that will house state-mandated criminal courts and other services and address the current Milwaukee County Public Safety Building with demolition or redevelopment,” Evers’ capital budget states.

Evers’ capital budget recommendation said the $25 million is for the “preliminary planning, design, and sitework” for the project.

“I think he [Evers] absolutely understands and recognizes the importance of this particular issue,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said.

The capital budget lists the price tag for the renovations at the Milwaukee County Courthouse complex at $495 million. The county had requested $250 million from the state for the project.

Crowley said he’s thankful for the governor’s proposal but he also believes more help is needed from the state, as he said nearly 80 percent of the county’s property tax levy goes towards state-mandated services.

“It is our hope that we’ll be able to get more dollars or find ways, creative ways, creative solutions, to solve for the price tag of the Public Safety Building,” Crowley said. 

Meanwhile, Milwaukee County is facing a projected $11.5 million budget deficit this year, according to a five-year budget forecast.

“We [Milwaukee County] cannot foot the bill alone,” Taylor said.

In January, the county announced they had selected consultants who will help with the design phase.

Evers’ capital budget, which he announced last week, calls for $4.1 billion for building projects around the state. It still needs approval from the Legislature. 

A statement from the governor’s office said the State Building Commission will meet on March 25 to vote on the recommendations. Recommendations will then be submitted to the Joint Committee on Finance for consideration with the governor’s executive budget.

GOP leadership called the capital spending proposal “irresponsible.”

In a statement, Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, who co-chair the Joint Finance Committee, said Republicans would “craft a responsible Capital Budget that Wisconsin can afford.”