Kabat made his dislike of bigger Center plan clear before veto

Nobody should be too surprised by the veto from La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat on the La Crosse Center expansion plans.

While supportive overall of the project, Kabat’s also publicly criticized the higher than expected price tag for the expansion.

“I’ve been clear from the very beginning of this project and this process that I do not want to raise property taxes on our citizens in order to fund this,” Kabat said.

Kabat vetoed the expansion and funding plan for the $49 million project Monday.

He was comfortable with the earlier $42 million plan but nothing more than that. He also was fairly open to his distaste for how, he says, the expansion design “unnecessarily” juts out over Riverside Park, covering about a half acre of green space.

“We can accomplish all of the goals in expanding and growing the Center without encroaching into Riverside Park,” Kabat said.

The city council will attempt to override his veto next month. It will need a super majority of nine votes to do it. The initial vote, seen below, was 7-4 in favor of the plan before Kabat’s veto.

In a Facebook post (below) from Tuesday, Kabat encouraged people to call their council members expressing their feelings about the plans. The city council’s contact info can be found here.