$1.5 million and an annual talkfest is not worth it.

New Berlin wants to buy more Milwaukee water and send it further west into the suburb. In exchange, New Berlin will pay for the water, kick in an extra $1.5 million and agree to meet with Milwaukee representatives once a year to talk about “opportunities to improve the availability of skilled workers in both communities and to improve the access of workers in each community to job opportunities,” according to a proposed agreement between the two communities.

Jim Rowen does a nice job deconstructing the $1.5 million payment. An agreement to talk, though, is an agreement to do nothing. New Berlin needs to commit to helping fund transit between the two cities; it needs to commit to building affordable housing within its borders.

Those commitments should be made, memorialized and maybe even partially implemented before Milwaukee sends more water and sprawl over the county line. The Common Council should not go along with the deal as it stands.