Common Council President Joe Phillips, just before the council voted July 21 on its preference for upgrading the city's aging City Hall and library complex, said this might be time for Wauwatosa to "dream big."
"I see a lot of excitement in the community about this project and its possibilities," Phillips said. "There's a time to be conservative and there's a time to dream big."
The council chose "big" when it ultimately voted, 8-2, to recommend the most costly option of the four presented for consideration, which would entail demolishing the existing Civic Center on the southwest corner of North and Wauwatosa avenues and building a new City Hall and a new Wauwatosa Public Library in its place.
A new 133,000-square-foot complex would take an estimated 20 months to build, likely starting in 2028 after a year of design work, at an estimated cost of $107.2 million. The vote in favor of that plan, known as Option 4, occurred during a committee-style meeting, so the council will still need to vote again to finalize its decision at its July 28 meeting.
Subscribe for free to receive the latest Tosa news — or become a paid member and support more reporting like this.
In this case, "dreaming big" also applies to how the city would pay for such a project. All four options would require a property tax increase to cover the debt payments over 20 years. But instead of endorsing the mix of taxes, grants and fundraising that was proposed by city staff, the council sought to minimize the tax impact of Option 4 by more-than-tripling the amount of money it would require in fundraising by the Wauwatosa Public Library Foundation and other sources.