Friday, January 20, 2006

STATE Hy. 59 and New Berlin Wallet-Busters

There's some discussion about the Town of Brookfield's refusal to pay the State $700+K for what the DOT says is 'the Town's share' of a State Hy. 59 widening project.

The Town's position: "DOT is overcharging."

The City of New Berlin, which is FAR more generous with their tax dollars, is now into name-calling mode when referring to Town of Brookfield officials.

Specifically, some New Berlin alderman named Gallagher was indirectly quoted:

Ald. Paul Gallagher called town officials selfish and said the state should pay the town's portion to finish the reconstruction as a four-lane highway.

"The DOT needs to do what's right, and I believe they should go ahead and finish the road regardless of the cost sharing," Gallagher said. "They need to consider the safety issues."


We could point out that there are dozens of places where 4-lane roads become 2-lane roads around the Milwaukee area and there are no apparent "safety hazards" which come to mind.

Perhaps Alderman Gallagher's cavalier attitude toward DOT's spending habits is really the "safety hazard"--if you wish to keep your wallet safe.

1 comment:

Dad29 said...

Town of Brookfield officials ARE a bunch of yokels--but not born yesterday.

Their claim is that the State DOT is OVERCHARGING for the work to be done. I don't think they are holding out simply because the Town would pay part of the cost...

You've seen all the details that I've seen; but given the DOT's track record, 'overcharging' would not be too hard to imagine.