LETTER: Council needs to confirm that voter OK of TIDs is law in Port

To Ozaukee Press:

When a motion that could have erased the will of two-thirds of Port Washington voters was argued in court last month, the city took no position.

On April 7, voters approved an ordinance requiring a public vote before the city creates any tax incremental district with project costs or a base value over $10 million. More than 1,000 residents signed the petition that put it on the ballot. The mayor says no other Wisconsin city has one.

The ordinance does not affect the Vantage data center. The $458 million TID was already approved. The referendum was a response to how that approval was handled.

Business groups led by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce sued the city and its clerk to stop the vote. The city’s own response told the court it “largely agrees with the concerns outlined in the complaint,” while saying it was barred by law from rejecting the petition.

Judge Adam Gerol let Great Lakes Neighbors United, a resident group, join the case, noting that until then there was “nobody here to speak on behalf of the public.”

The mayor said after the April vote that the will of the people prevailed. Yet when the business groups moved for summary judgment, the city filed no response and told the judge it took no position. Residents had to hire their own attorneys and defend their own vote. 

On Oct. 19, Judge Gerol denied the motion, granted declaratory judgment in favor of the defense and Great Lakes Neighbors United, and dismissed the case. The ordinance stands.

The rules were bent for this TID before residents had seen a project plan or its terms. On Jan. 22, 2025, Mayor Ted Neitzke signed a pre-annexation agreement with Red Granite DevCo, in which the city warranted that it intended to create a TID covering the property to make the project feasible.

On April 15,  Neitzke and council members Benning and Pleitner went to Madison to testify in favor of lifting the state’s 12% cap on that district. The council did not approve the Vantage agreement until Aug. 19. Gov. Evers signed 2025 Wisconsin Act 16 on July 8, exempting Port Washington’s TID No. 5 from the cap.

Officials who asked Madison to loosen a state limit stayed neutral when the one limit residents wrote themselves was challenged. Now the council should adopt a resolution confirming that the ordinance applies to every future TID.

Voters asked for a say in the next big deal. They earned it.

Brigitte Pyzyk

Grafton