Just in case you haven’t heard a number of Milwaukee officials recently had a “brain storming session” where they thought a 7 county regional “cultural” tax would be a good idea.

Milwaukee, like many counties in Wisconsin, is facing a large budget issue and the thought of a regional tax is making many salivate. In today’s Journal Sentinel Milwaukee’s Mayor Tom Barrett actually thought that any regional tax should “include help for City of Milwaukee police and fire services, Milwaukee County parks and various regional transit needs.” He went on to include the KRM METRA.

The story says that the “Main beneficiaries of a regional cultural tax could include the Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee Art Museum, the Mitchell Park Domes and other major institutions that draw many patrons from beyond Milwaukee County.”

So I guess that means the Racine Zoo, RAM, the Racine Historic Museum, Kenosha’s History Center, not to mention the Racine, Kenosha, Caledonia, Mount Pleasant, and Sturtevant’s fire and police services are all out of luck. I mean we all know that Milwaukee is THE PLACE to be in Wisconsin, right?

Here’s the deal, if these “cultural” items are in need of extra funding then by all means it would behoove them to start fundraising or to raise the price of admission. If they are still in dire need it would make sense for them to consider either privatizing the “cultural exhibit” or simply rid themselves of it.

A regional tax would only cause heartburn for the neighbors of Milwaukee County since Mayor Barrett is already asking for the region to foot the bill for their police and fire.

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