Madison in the Morning

Madison in the Morning

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Madison Common Council approves 2024 budget

MADISON (WKOW) -- Minutes before midnight Tuesday night, alders on Madison's Common Council passed the city's 2024 capital and operating budgets.

The budget funds projects including new affordable housing, the north-south Bus Rapid Transit line, new bike and pedestrian paths, construction of the library's Imagination Center, wage increases for city employees and several new staff positions. 

Alders also approved amendments to hire another equal opportunities investigator in the department of civil rights, fund an expansion to the Warner Park community center and build a tunnel underneath John Nolen Drive for cyclists and pedestrians.

District 13 Alder Tag Evers, who represents the Dudgeon-Monroe, Greenbush and Bay Creek neighborhoods, said the John Nolen underpass made it in the budget because of enormous support from community members. 

He and other alders also said they believe the underpass will make it safer for people to access the Lake Monona waterfront. 

"To me, this is a responsible use of our borrowing capacity to address this area that has proven to be very dangerous in the past," he said. "While it's not cheap to do so, it's not inexpensive, it certainly is worthwhile."

Looking toward fiscal future

Much of the discussion at Tuesday night's meeting centered around what was fiscally responsible for the city. Experts have predicted the city will face a budget shortfall starting in 2025, and some alders expressed a desire to start cutting spending now to prepare for that. 

District 14 Alder Isadore Knox, Jr., who represents the south side, called Common Council "the last line of defense" for taxpayers. 

He said he believes, come 2025, alders could have to consider service cuts, hiring freezes or layoffs because of the projected shortfall. 

"We haven't seen this in a while, but it's a reality that's coming," he said. "So all of us need to think about tightening our belt like we do at home with our home budget when gas prices get high, when the food prices get high and stop telling our constituents they can have it all because they can't."

Creating new positions

Alders spent the most time Tuesday talking about if the city should create a city-wide public information officer (PIO) position. Right now, some city departments have PIOs, but many do not, and there is not one person who is responsible for communication about city-wide issues.

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said she included the new PIO position in the operating budget at the request of Neighborhood Resource Teams. 

Many alders spoke in support of creating the job, saying they believe having a person in that role will help Madison better communicate about available resources and programs and upcoming changes. Others said they believe a PIO would help the city reach and communicate with new groups of people. 

However, the support was not unanimous. District 20 Alder Barbara Harrington-McKinney, who represents part of the southwest side, said she believes the new position shouldn't be a priority now and should be pushed to future budgets. 

Four alders -- Harrington-McKinney, Knox, District 7 Alder Nasra Wehelie and District 18 Alder Charles Myadze -- voted against creating the PIO position. 

Alders also approved an amendment creating another traffic signal electrician position. Harrington-McKinney and Knox both noted most of the time constituents reach out to them, it's related to a traffic issue. 

Budget passes in one night

Alders adopted the 2024 capital budget unanimously. Two alders, Harrington-McKinney and Knox, voted against the 2024 operating budget. 

Tuesday night, the Common Council also authorized a general property tax levy of $286,497,699. All alders except Knox and Harrington-McKinney voted in favor of that. 

In recent years, alders have met on successive nights to finalize the budget. This year, it took them just under six and a half hours. 

Mayor's statement on budget

Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway released a statement shortly after midnight about the budget's passage. 

"I want to thank the Common Council for their work to pass a budget that continues to invest in our critical community services and infrastructure. The City’s budget process is never easy, and there are always more community needs and more good ideas than funding can support. This is made more difficult by a State legislature that provides minimal direct support and severely restricts Madison’s access to revenue sources available elsewhere. The result is that, every year, the costs to deliver City services - like libraries, emergency response, transit, snow plowing, and more - increase faster than our revenues do to pay for those services. While we have mastered the art of doing more with less, it is increasingly challenging to deliver the high quality services that Madisonians are accustomed to in a rapidly growing city," she said. 

More at WKOW 27 News


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