Community Renewal Good Stories - Milwaukee

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Private Partners Help Milwaukee RC Promote Tax Incentives

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, RC

Although incentives are powerful tools for redevelopment, they are useful only when businesses and residents know they exist and understand how they work. Through a public-private partnership, organizers in Milwaukee are conducting an aggressive outreach and education campaign for businesses that has spurred development and promoted job creation in the city's RC.

With 53 census tracts, more than 140,000 residents, nearly 4,000 businesses, and acres of developable land, the Milwaukee RC has many advantages for local businesses in addition to tax incentives. But Milwaukee's RC organizers knew that to make the most of these resources, their campaign needed to target not only businesses in the RC, but also businesses considering a location within the RC's boundaries, community-based organizations, workforce development organizations, accountants, attorneys, and economic development professionals.

To meet this challenge, Milwaukee's department of city development created a public-private partnership for outreach and training. Using Community Development Block Grant funds, the city enlisted the Urban Economic Development Association of Wisconsin (UEDA) to lead the public information campaign.

UEDA tapped into its strong network in the economic development community to spread the word about the RC's incentives, which include tax credits for business owners who hire workers who live and work within the RC's boundaries, accelerated depreciation for new construction and property rehabilitation, and capital gains exclusions. UEDA also sought private sponsors, such as Johnson Bank, to increase funding and bring additional expertise to the outreach effort.

Since Milwaukee received its RC designation in 2002, RC organizers have had personal contact with 45 percent of the businesses in the RC, held nearly 80 information sessions, had 100 one-on-one meetings, and met with nearly 80 nonprofit and government officials. RC organizers have also worked in partnership with the IRS and the business school at Marquette University to educate tax preparers and local real estate developers about the incentives. These efforts have paid off. Since 2002 Milwaukee has made $24 million in CRD allocations to support 24 redevelopment projects. Together, these projects have retained or attracted 550 jobs and have saved $535,000 annually for two dozen local business owners.

"Milwaukee is proud to be one of only 40 communities in the country that received the designation as a Renewal Community," says Mayor Tom Barrett. "Through our outreach efforts, we have encouraged businesses of all sizes to take advantage of some great incentives that are exclusively available to business located in this targeted area. The best result is that we have been able to encourage the retention and creation of jobs as well as investment in Milwaukee's distressed communities."

For more information about the Milwaukee RC, please contact Senior Economic Development Specialist Lori Lutzka, City of Milwaukee, at 414-286-5846.