Property taxes spiked for people living near the downtown after the opening of Fiserv Forum and new residential and business development downtown.
Now, the Common Council has approved a fund that could give homeowner relief, but the details on who gets the help are still in the works.
Lennie Mosley and her husband have called downtown home for decades.
"We raised our children here," said Mosley. "They are both very old now with grandchildren and great grandkids."
They are originals to their Haylard Park neighborhood, which started with about 40 homes.
"We starting building in '80 and moved in 1981," said Mosley.
Now they live just blocks from Fiserv Forum and that location means their new property tax bill saw a big hike.
"It's 19 percent higher than it was last year," said Mosley.
"On average, the City of Milwaukee residential said the assessment, the tax assessments increased 7 percent, but in Haylard Park many people's assessment increased 25 percent," said Alderwoman Milele Coggs.
According to Coggs, that is why the Milwaukee Common Council just approved an Anti-Displacement Tax Fund.
Coggs said Atlanta has a similar model and they used it as a starting point. It gives property tax relief to homeowners and it is funded by private businesses.
"It's a specific geographic area that is most affected by the new development," said Coggs. "So it will be the neighborhoods that surround where the arena development is downtown."
That will likely include Haylard Park - but the city still has to decide who would qualify for the fund.
Mosley said no matter what, she will not leave her home of 38 years.
"I'll be here," she said. I plan on staying."
