A proposal to help pay off Miller Park on time. With sales tax revenues down in the five county Miller Park stadium tax district, state Senator John Lehman proposes a surcharge on Brewers tickets and stadium parking, in order to keep on target for sunsetting the taxing district in 2014. “If we can do that, I think the taxpayers of Racine County and the other counties would be very satisfied that we’re off the hook, as far as Miller Park,” Lehman told WUWM in Milwaukee.
The Racine Democrat proposes a one dollar surcharge on tickets and parking, three dollars for busses. Lehman believes most Brewers fans will be willing to pony up. “If you look at the experience of going to a Brewers game compared to other Major League Baseball venues, the cost is pretty low,” says Lehman. “The addition of a couple dollars to what they’re already paying would be pretty insignifcant.”
If revenue collections pick up the surcharge could help pay off Miller Park before 2014, which Lehman says would be ‘all the better.’ The stadium district board collects a one tenth of a percent sales tax in five counties, but those revenues have been down with the lagging economy.