BROOKFIELD – The hospitality group managing the Brookfield Conference Center (BCC) will receive $200,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from the city to recoup revenue lost from operating during the pandemic. At the April 2 Common Council meeting, Mayor Steve Ponto cast the tie-breaking vote on a 7-7 disagreement on approving the funding.
North Central Group Hospitality (NCG) manages the BCC; the city owns the property. Together, the entities decided to open the BCC in July of 2020 despite the severe impacts on travel and events at the time.
"While we had some success in booking events at the BCC and bringing guests to the Brookfield area during this period, the pandemic had a much longer and significantly more negative impact on the BCC’s operations than anyone could have anticipated," wrote Chief Development Officer of NCG Andrew Inman in a letter to the city in December.
NCG’s original request was for $400,000 in assistance, citing the BCC’s operating loss of $442,027 in 2020 and 2021 and NCG’s ineligibility for applying for ARPA funds itself since they manage the conference center and don’t own it.
"Mayor Ponto and staff have carefully considered this request from NCG in the context of the city’s long-term relationship with NCG and the city’s investment in the BCC," wrote the director of finance and administration, Robert Scott, in a letter to the Finance Committee. "To secure our relationship with an important business partner and sustain and protect the city’s investment in the conference center, the mayor and staff are prepared to recommend that the city fund $200,000 of the NCG request."
Seven aldermen were opposed, particularly Mike Hallquist, who wrote the council prior to the April 2 meeting.
"Respectfully, $200,000 is a small amount of money to a private corporation of their size," he wrote. "Why should taxpayers add more to subsidize a private corporation when admittedly the only direct goal is the hope of ‘maintaining a good relationship’ between the city and NCG?"
He also pointed out the staffing corporation of NCG received a nearly $4 million loan for payroll purposes in April of 2020, and again in March of 2021 they received a $2 million loan for payroll, according to the ProPublica database tracking federal loans from the Paycheck Protection Program. The loans and interest were forgiven.
Following approval of the funding, Hallquist released a statement.
"It’s an irresponsible use of discretionary public taxpayer dollars. In the same meeting prior to this vote, we unanimously approved $50K for a consultant to advise the city on a potential referendum," he stated. "What kind of message does that send to our residents?"
He was concerned about the grant being "unrestricted," meaning the funds could be spent elsewhere within NCG’s organization.
"I simply do not agree with the argument that NCG as an entity did not receive government support during COVID," he said. "We DO however, have very real financial challenges on the horizon we need to solve, and if more residents were aware of this, I can’t imagine them supporting this type of expenditure."
