Barrett: Milwaukee needs millions of dollars from the state to fix potholes or else...



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The city of Milwaukee is strapped for cash. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is asking the state for millions of dollars to fix the city's potholes. Mayor Barrett says if Milwaukee and other communities don't get help, they'll fall behind on road maintenance -- and that will only make things worse in the future.

Mayor Barrett on Monday, May 5th sent a letter to the state's Joint Finance Committee. On Tuesday, the JFC met in Madison to review, among other things, money owed to the Wisconsin DOT.

Mayor Barrett is asking the state to dip into a transportation surplus and divy out tens of millions of dollars to Milwaukee and other cities with roads chewed up by the harsh winter.

Mayor Barrett says the city of Milwaukee had more than $5 million in excess costs for road maintenance this winter.

"Without additional assistance and limits on budget and property tax levy increases, Milwaukee and other communities will fall behind on road maintenance, thus causing higher road repair costs in the future," Mayor Barrett writes.

Some residents feel Milwaukee is already falling behind on fixing the streets.

Donna Tipton is one of them.

"I got a cone from my garage and put it out there to try and alert people to the presence of this," Tipton said.

Tipton says she has reported the stretch of roadway near South 56th Street and Stack Drive.

"I see -- if the city doesn't do something to barricade it or fix it pretty quickly, I see somebody is going to actually end up getting hurt," Tipton said.

On Tuesday, the Joint Finance Committee approved the DOT's request for $27 million for road maintenance and salt.

As for Mayor Barrett's request -- Finance Committee member Dale Kooyenga of Brookfield says:

"The city of Milwaukee needs to prioritize their spending and say, hey, we need to look at our spending and free up our areas we are spending money on other places in order to fix the roads. Municipalities take care of municipal roads and and the state takes care of state highways and the interstates," Kooyenga said.

Kooyenga says he doesn't recall Mayor Barrett's letter being brought up at all during Tuesday's meeting.

The League of Wisconsin Municipalities sent a letter to the Finance Committee for basically the same reason Mayor Barrett did.

Ultimately, the argument being made is, the state helps counties cover the cost of a harsh winter, while cities are left out in the cold.