Milwaukee County is in the design phase of a plan to replace the County Safety Building, an aging facility connected to the Milwaukee County Courthouse that officials say is endangering lives and leading to miscarriages of justice.
Current estimates put the project to replace the building, located at 821 W. State St., at nearly $500 million— a daunting figure for the county, which is anticipating budget shortfalls in the near future.
However, officials from both sides of the political aisle at the county and state level are optimistic that a partnership between the governments could be viable to advance the project, which has been discussed for at least a decade.
"I’ve been chief judge since 2023, and each of the four previous chief judges thought something would happen to replace this crumbling building during their terms," said Chief Judge Carl Ashley. "We have long known that investments are needed to support public safety, efficiency and the dignity of all who use the Milwaukee County courts."
The issue was discussed at a Monday panel with local and state officials hosted by the
Wisconsin Policy Forum.
Building is "functionally obsolete"
Almost 100 years old, the roughly 320,000-square-foot courthouse complex is home to the county's criminal courts and the Sheriff's and District Attorney's offices. Panelists described the existing building as "crumbling," "functionally obsolete," and "deteriorating."
Deferred maintenance, code compliance upgrades and upkeep needs alone exceed $300 million, according to Milwaukee County Executive
David Crowley.
Perhaps chief among the building's deficiencies is that it does not have separate corridors to transport defendants, officials said. That means defendants are in the same hallways as their accusers, witnesses and jurors. The layout has led to a significantly higher number of incidents that resulted in a 911 call compared to counties with separate corridors, and also higher number of mistrials due to jurors overhearing attorney conversations with defendants, for instance.
"
A fundamental problem is that the existing building was not designed to accommodate criminal courts, which require enhanced security measures, private hallways, and additional meeting spaces to function properly," said Kent Lovern, Milwaukee County District Attorney. "A lot of this is about efficiency, trying to move cases in a more efficient and just way."
Further, the building has 10 floors of unusable jail space due to outdated infrastructure and design and contributes to the court's challenges with recruiting and retaining staff, public defenders and prosecutors, according to Lovern.
County officials expect the project cost to expand as much as $100 million each year the project is put off, Crowley said, largely due to cost-inflation and compound interest on debt associated with the rising cost.
County seeking state support
In January, Milwaukee County selected
AECOM, a national engineering firm, to provide architectural planning and design, and the
National Center for State Courts (NCSC), a Virginia-based consultancy, to collect the input used to shape the programming and services of the new facility. Already, Gov. Tony Evers proposed $25 million to help support the planning of the new facility, though the proposal could be nixed during negotiations.
To help cover the remaining project costs, Milwaukee County is seeking about $250 million in state support for the project. If the county has to borrow for the project on its own, the interest on the debt has been estimated at approximately $300 million, according to Crowley.
Panelists Wisconsin State Senate president Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, and Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, both support providing state funding for the project. Felzkowski, who represents northern Wisconsin, said “I, personally, am 100% behind the state helping replace the public safety building.”
However, both also said getting enough representatives and senators from around the state on board with the funding will be challenging and take some creativity.
With the sales tax deal and the Brewers stadium funding bill both passed during the last session, Felzkowski said rural legislators are less interested in more major “Milwaukee-focused” legislation.
"H
ow we get it done has to be creative and fiscally responsible on behalf of the taxpayers of Wisconsin," Felzkowski said, adding that more support could be garnered if Milwaukee County took advantage of innovations and efficiencies to reduce the taxpayer investment in other services and redirect dollars to cover building costs.
The funding could also be split among multiple state budgets and be coupled with other reforms in how the state's court systems are funded.
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I am hearing loud and clear from counties across Wisconsin that it’s time for us to take a deep look into how we’re funding our judiciary and our court system," Felzkowski said. "We need to investigate whether our funding system is set up to incentivize our desired outcomes. Both sides of the political divide understand the need for public safety, and we also need to take the individual challenges that each county faces into consideration.”
The design phase is expected to be finalized by 2027 and, pending funding, construction could begin in 2028.
