Madison in the Morning

Madison in the Morning

Madison in the Morning, keeping Madison informed weekday mornings on 1310 WIBAFull Bio

 

Madison mayoral candidates clash on budget, plans for city

MADISON (WKOW) -- Wisconsin's mayoral election is five weeks away, and the two candidates squared off Monday night for the first debate since the primary election. 

Current mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and former Madison school board president Gloria Reyes covered several topics during the 90-minute debate, including bus rapid transit, affordable housing and public safety. The issue that received some of the most attention was the city's budget. 

The Wisconsin Policy Forum reports Madison is facing a potential budget shortfall of more than $20 million after 2024. 

Rhodes-Conway said she's hoping the state legislature will increase shared revenue because she said what we have been doing to close budget gaps isn't a long-term solution. 

"We added a number of fees over those 10 years to close the gaps," she said. "We're running out of fees, and the gaps are getting bigger because the cost to continue keeps going up. That's why we have a structural deficit, not because we've been spending willy nilly, not because we've been adding services like crazy, but because the cost to provide basic services goes up every year."

However, Reyes said she doesn't think that's the right approach to avoiding the budget shortfall. 

"We can't depend on the state legislature," she said. "For the past 30 years, they haven't given us what we needed, and it's a republican-controlled legislature. I just don't know how that's going to work, and so we have to really be fiscally responsible, make hard decisions, so that we are not impacting negatively our most vulnerable populations in this city."

When discussing transit, the two clashed on plans for buses to run on State St. 

"I never agreed that it should go down State St.," Reyes said. "I think that State St. is a central point of our community, … and we're losing State St. with these big buses. … What I will do is look at the 400 or 500. 600 block of State St. and really start moving and thinking about to the future of making that into a pedestrian mall."

Rhodes-Conway has been a big advocate for bus rapid transit using State St., and she continued backing that idea Monday. 

"I support it for exactly the reasons that Gloria said," Rhodes-Conway said. "Because downtown is the heart of our community, because it is our premier business district, because it's where people want to go, and transit should take them there."

Rhodes-Conway said she is proud of what she's accomplished over the past four years in office, and she's asking voters to re-elect her. 

"Let me get the job done," she said. "Give me another four years to work in our community on these issues and challenges that face us."

Reyes said she thinks Madison is heading in the wrong direction and wants voters to choose her to right the ship. 

"I am prepared to step up for the city of Madison, as I have done in years past when we're in trouble," she said. 

This mayoral election is the first time voters in Madison have been deciding between two women for the city's top job. The general election is April 4. 

More at WKOW 27 News


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content