A program designed to lure businesses to Milwaukee by offering them cheaper water rates had yielded no new jobs for the city as of this spring, according to info released by the state Public Service Commission.
The state utility commission voted on Thursday to lower the hurdles prospective and current employers must surmount to qualify for a lower rate.
Milwaukee aldermen created the “Economic Development Rate” program in 2010, and the PSC approved the special pricing in early 2011. In the first year it was offered, no company succeeded in using it, according to the PSC. The “WAVE” rates, as they’re also called, are available to any new or existing business that adds 25 jobs and meets certain water usage requirements.
Revisions to the rules relax the 90-day time limit originally imposed on creating jobs, along with another stricture — that the cheaper water be the only reason why the employer is adding jobs. Now, it need be only one of the reasons.
(Illustration by Adrian Palomo)
