MILWAUKEE — Plans to revamp Milwaukee County’s century-old courthouse complex got the final stamp of approval from county supervisors on Thursday.
All but one supervisor on the county board voted to move forward with an $812 million renovation to address decades of deferred maintenance and a confusing building layout that slows down the court system.
“There will be spaces for people to grieve,” Supervisor Shawn Rolland said at the Oct. 1 meeting. “There will be spaces for people that are fighting for their lives to be able to speak with their attorney in some privacy. The DA’s office will . . . not be spread across this gigantic building and different floors will be united as one.”
Milwaukee County has already invested about $38 million in the project, and County Executive David Crowley added another $15.8 million in capital funding in his latest budget proposal for 2027.
“Our predecessors who sat in these chairs ignored a problem,” Supervisor Sheldon A. Wasserman said. “This bill would have been a lot cheaper, hundreds of millions of dollars if it was handled 20 years ago.”
Supervisors acknowledged that some costs will fall on Milwaukee County taxpayers, but said the price tag will only continue to increase if delayed further. County Executive Crowley has said he plans to reduce the burden on local taxpayers by offsetting more than $400 million through state funding.
The final plans do not include a paned glass entryway scrapped by the finance committee last week, saving the county over $45 million.
The courthouse redesign is projected to save Milwaukee County millions in annual utility costs and other costs associated with transporting in-custody defendants.
