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Seven Bridges Trailhead at Grant Park in South Milwaukee

It’s Time to Give Milwaukee Parks the Funding Stability They Deserve

October 28, 2025  |  Topics: Issues

By Patricia Jursik, Board President, Preserve Our Parks

Photos of Milwaukee County Parks by Eddee Daniel

On September 29, Milwaukee County released its 2026 recommended budget. The numbers may balance, but the trajectory is unmistakable: once again, our parks are asked to absorb cuts that erode the very assets that knit this county together. As a lawyer and former County Supervisor, I’ll be plain: this is not sustainable, and the consequences are foreseeable.

How are parks funded today? Primarily through the County’s annual levy—augmented by volatile user fees, short-term grants, and philanthropy. In other words, essential public space is financed like a discretionary program, subject to year-to-year pressures and the first to be trimmed when the economy tightens. Meanwhile, other regional assets have long enjoyed dedicated revenue. Stadium and convention-center districts were granted stable tax streams; parks were not. I do not argue to undo those choices. I argue for parity. The absence of a protected, dedicated source for parks has yielded exactly what you would expect: decades of deferred maintenance, shrinking staff, closed restrooms and pools, and a creeping decline that will cost far more to reverse later—if reversal is even possible.

Fishing below the dam at Kletzsch Park, Glendale.
Fishing below the dam at Kletzsch Park, Glendale.

Parks are not amenities. They are public health infrastructure that improves climate resilience and neighborhood equity in a single, countywide system: 15,500 acres, 153 parks and parkways, 215 miles of trails, and dozens of facilities where residents of every age and zip code gather, move, cool off, and breathe. When we fail to fund them, we pay elsewhere—in emergency rooms, in storm damage, in lost talent attraction and tourism. Parks are also the most used free spaces in our community; the Oak Leaf Trail is, functionally, Milwaukee County’s most-attended “sports facility.”

The South Shore Marathon on the Oak Leaf Trail in Warnimont Park, Cudahy.
The South Shore Marathon on the Oak Leaf Trail in Warnimont Park, Cudahy.

Peer metropolitan areas have successfully addressed the challenge of securing sustainable funding for their park systems. Cleveland Metroparks and Columbus & Franklin County Metro Parks operate with voter-approved property tax levies. Minneapolis’s Park & Recreation Board holds its own levy authority. St. Louis sustains regional trails and greenways with a dedicated sales tax. The common thread is simple: stable, accountable revenue paired with clear promises to the public. When voters know what they are buying—open restrooms, safe trails, healthy trees, staffed recreational facilities, flood-ready shorelines—they support it.

Milwaukee needs the same clarity and courage. Preserve Our Parks is calling on the Milwaukee County Board to immediately seat a time-limited task force to design an independent Parks District with a dedicated funding stream and strong public oversight. Charge it to deliver, within 120 days: (1) enabling legislation; (2) revenue options and a ten-year plan (for example, levy authority subject to voter approval or a defined share of existing regional taxes); (3) service standards and equity metrics so every municipality sees fair, measurable benefits; and (4) a transition roadmap to minimize disruption for employees and users.

User fees, such as for golf courses such as this one at Dretzka Park in Milwaukee, are insufficient to support the cost of maintaining the park system.
User fees, such as for golf courses like this one at Dretzka Park in Milwaukee, are insufficient to support the cost of maintaining the park system.

Finally, we need our delegation in Madison to be ready partners. Local leadership must craft the model; state lawmakers must authorize it. The cost of waiting is higher than the cost of acting. If we want parks that are open, safe, and healthy for our children and their children, we must build the dedicated, accountable structure now.

The path is clear. Let’s take it.

Photo essay of selected Milwaukee County Parks

Milwaukee County Parks' beaches can provide communal experiences, such as this Memorial Day weekend scene at Bradford Beach on Milwaukee's downtown Lakefront.
Milwaukee County Parks’ beaches can provide communal experiences, such as this Memorial Day weekend scene at Bradford Beach on Milwaukee’s downtown Lakefront.
They can also provide a solitary getaway from the urban bustle, such as at Doctors Park in Fox Point.
They can also provide a solitary getaway from the urban bustle, such as at Doctors Park in Fox Point.
Children all over Milwaukee County use the parks for healthy outdoor recreation as well as environmental education, such as here at Riverside Park in the Milwaukee River Greenway.
Children all over Milwaukee County use the parks for healthy outdoor recreation as well as environmental education, such as here at Riverside Park in the Milwaukee River Greenway.
A group of schoolchildren admire a display of tulips at Boerner Botanical Gardens, part of Whitnall Park in Hales Corners.
A group of schoolchildren admire a display of tulips at Boerner Botanical Gardens, part of Whitnall Park in Hales Corners.
This newly paved stretch of the Oak Leaf Trail in the Little Menomonee River Parkway is one of several road-to-trail conversions in the works. In the long run trails are less expensive to maintain than roads.
This newly paved stretch of the Oak Leaf Trail in the Little Menomonee River Parkway is one of several road-to-trail conversions in the works. In the long run trails are less expensive to maintain than roads.
An aerial view of a portion of Lake Park in Milwaukee. The ravine drive, closed for years, awaits an uncertain future.
An aerial view of a portion of Lake Park in Milwaukee. The ravine drive, closed for years, awaits an uncertain future.
A popular sledding hill in Curry Park, Wauwatosa.
A popular sledding hill in Curry Park, Wauwatosa.
The 2023 groundbreaking ceremony for newly renamed Moss Park, formerly Wisconsin Avenue Park, which is planned to be redeveloped into a universally accessible park.
The 2023 groundbreaking ceremony for newly renamed Moss Park, formerly Wisconsin Avenue Park, which is planned to be redeveloped into a universally accessible park.
Underfunding makes it more challenging to maintain the park system's 15,000 acres with fewer permanent and seasonal employees. Hoyt Park, Wauwatosa.
Underfunding makes it more challenging to maintain the park system’s 15,000 acres with fewer permanent and seasonal employees. Hoyt Park, Wauwatosa.
The park system includes five official mountain bike trails, including the Kegel Alpha Trail in Mangan Woods, Franklin.
The park system includes five official mountain bike trails, including the Kegel Alpha Trail in Mangan Woods, Franklin.
Jackson Park in Milwaukee is scheduled for a major makeover for flood management purposes (thanks to the MMSD), but reopening the shuttered pool is not in the plan.
A major makeover is underway at Jackson Park in Milwaukee for flood management purposes (thanks to the MMSD), but reopening the shuttered pool is not in the plan.
Four kayakers ply one of the oxbows on the Milwaukee River in Lincoln Park, Glendale.
Four kayakers ply one of the oxbows on the Milwaukee River in Lincoln Park, Glendale.
The county maintains two groomed cross-country ski trails, at Whitnall Park and here at Brown Deer Park in Milwaukee.
The county maintains two groomed cross-country ski trails, at Whitnall Park and here at Brown Deer Park in Milwaukee.
The mill pond and dam, part of the Oak Creek Parkway in South Milwaukee.
The mill pond and dam, part of the Oak Creek Parkway in South Milwaukee.

Note: The banner photo at the top is of the Seven Bridges Trailhead at Grant Park in South Milwaukee. If you want more information about any of the parks included, the links in the captions take you to our Find-a-Park pages for each of them.

Patricia Jursik is Board President of Preserve Our Parks. Eddee Daniel is a board member of Preserve Our Parks and, Project Director of A Wealth of Nature, and editor of The Natural Realm.

About Preserve Our Parks

Preserve Our Parks, Inc. is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of parks and green spaces.  Our mission: To advocate for and promote Milwaukee area parks and open spaces and to strive to protect the tenets of Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine. 

For more than 25 years, we have been a leader in advocating for the protection of Milwaukee County park lands, halting many proposals to develop, privatize, or sell local parkland and lakefront spaces.  More information about POP, including past accomplishments, is available at www.preserveourparks.org.

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