Share Your Thoughts with Council about the Budget Referendum TONIGHT!

Hi friends, 

As you may know, the City of Madison is facing a serious budget deficit of $22 million. This deficit is a deliberate consequence of former Gov. Scott Walker's Act 10 and the state legislature's attempt to defund municipal government. As an indicator that this is not just a Madison issue, Fitchburg, Monona, and even Maple Bluff are all planning to go to referendum this year. 

If we do not pass a budget referendum this year, which would cost residents an average of $20 per month, we will have to make massive cuts to city services and lay off hundreds of municipal employees. This would have a serious and detrimental impact to ALL residents of Madison. Below you will see an invitation to tonight's council meeting and my attempt to answer some FAQs about the budget and referendum.

Invitation

You are invited to join us at the upcoming Madison Common Council meeting on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, at 6:30 PM. Your public testimony as a City of Madison resident is highly valued as we deliberate on a significant City budget resolution.

If adopted, the resolution would place a referendum on the November 5, 2024, general election ballot, seeking authorization to increase the state-imposed property tax levy limit by $22 million. This increase would enable the City to sustain essential services and operations.

Please consider completing the form to register to speak in person or virtually at the meeting on Tuesday, August 6, 2024. Make sure to include #68 in the agenda item field when filling out the form. For more details regarding the referendum resolution, please click here.

Alternatively, we welcome the submission of written comments on the referendum resolution by emailing allalders@cityofmadison.com, or you may register to speak at the City County Building on the day of the meeting.

The upcoming Council meeting on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, presents an important opportunity for the community to express their perspectives on a crucial City budget issue. A special virtual council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 20, 2024, to allow alders to make a final decision on the resolution. This schedule has been necessitated by the delayed availability of the final figures from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue required for the referendum resolution, which are anticipated to be ready after Thursday, August 15, 2024.

Please note that in-person or virtual public testimony on the referendum resolution will only occur at the Tuesday, August 6, 2024, meeting. However, you can submit written comments by emailing allalders@cityofmadison.com anytime between now and Tuesday, August 20, 2024.  

More information on the 2025 budget process is available on the City’s Budget Outlook page.  

• Watch Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway's presentation outlining a sustainable long-term budget plan for Madison’s budget delivered at the Tuesday, July 16, 2024 Council meeting.
• Read the Mayor’s memo to Alders.
• See answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the budget and a potential referendum.
• Check out some interesting facts and figures about Madison’s budget.

FAQs

What is referendum?

Referendum is a question to voters about whether or not us as a collective city should raise property taxes by $240/year or $20/month to resolve our $22 million budget deficit. If referendum passes, then we will be able to maintain current service levels. If not, we will have to make massive service reductions to basic city services (ie. library, parks, metro, etc). The goal with referendum is to have a one-time increase to resolve this year's and future year's budget gaps. 

What caused the $22 million budget deficit?

As I alluded to above, the passage Act 10 in 2011 made a systematic shift on how municipalities can raise revenue to pay for public services. Prior to Act 10, municipalities were allowed to make incremental increases to property taxes to keep up with increased services for new residents and inflation. Typically, inflation is 3-4% each year, meaning taxes would increase 3-4% each year. Act 10 limited property tax increases to 1-2% each year. Because of this, the city could not raise taxes enough to keep up with new residents and inflation. The math is not mathing. 

What does new services like BRT have to do with the budget deficit? 

Keep in mind BRT is a capital budget or infrastructure expense that is largely paid for by federal grant programs. BRT was also strategically designed to limit the amount of new staff that needs to be hired to remain within our budget parameters. 

That being said, there have been some increases to services, like the Midtown Police Department and Peace Park, which could have waited for future years when we were not in a budget pitfall. Even so, without these service increases, we still would be in a budget deficit, because we cannot raise revenues to keep up with basic city services. 

Why can't you raise revenue in other ways? 

Well, let's look at some of the more common solutions:

• Institute a sales tax. A sales tax would allow us to raise revenue based on the many visitors to Madison that use municipal services. The state will not allow the city to issue a sales tax. 
• Institute an income tax. An income tax would allow the city to equitable distribute the cost of services across income levels so that lower income earners are not shouldered with as much burden. The state will not allow the city to issue an income tax. 
• Distribute property taxes across assessed value. This would allow us to equitably distribute property taxes based on their assessed value. Properties with a high assessed value, such as those on the west side would pay a higher amount than the lower valued homes such as those on the north side. The state will not allow this. 
• Create new special charges. A special charge would allow the city to raise revenue based on specific services, such as a recycling fee. The city recently added a recycling fee, but other special charges are extremely limited by state statute. 
• Decrease the police budget. The police budget makes a large majority of our city's budget. Decreasing it would allow us to make up for some of the budget deficit. The state will not allow us to do that. 

Truly, the city has been exploring every solution and the state has routinely disallowed our ability to raise revenue without significantly decreasing services. 

What if referendum doesn't pass?

Taking a closer look at the impact of not passing referendum, we would have to make massive cuts that are simply irresponsible and unconscionable. 

You can review the city agency requests here, which shows proposed cuts to city services. Below are some highlights:

• Civil Rights
  • This would make hearing Civil RIghts cases even longer. 
  • Eliminate Hearing Examiner position (-$100,000) 
• Building Inspection
  • This would reduce access and response time to landlord-tenant complaints
  • Keep vacant a Code Enforcement Officer position vacant
  • Eliminate Code Enforcement Officer
  • Eliminate Information Clerk position
• Community Development
  • Reduce funding for Older Adult Services (-$117,621) 
  • Reduce funding for Child and Youth Services (-$48,000) — cease funding for Northside Early Child Care Zone and remove funding for education scholarships
  • Reduce funding for Crisis Intervention and Prevention (-180,000) — eliminate funding for youth restorative justice services
  • Reduce funding for Homeless Services & Housing Stability (-438,000) — strike funding for permanent supportive housing and outreach services
• Economic Development
  • Reduce Central Madison Business Improvement District (BID) (-62,225) — reduce programming along State Street
  • Discontinue Sponsorship of Madison Region Economic Partnership (-$20,000) 
  • Discontinue REAP Food Group (-$15,000) — reduce city's contribution to the summer meals program
  • Eliminate Garden Network Manager position for Rooted (-$35,000) — remove staffing for community gardens
• Planning Division
  • Eliminate the Arts Grant Program (-$122,000) 
  • Eliminate the Neighborhood Grants Program (-$50,000)
  • Eliminate "Madison Music City" (-$20,000)
• Library
  • Eliminate Sunday hours at three libraries (-$120,693)
  • Reduce general programming (-$323,793) — eliminate 3-3.5 positions for youth services, community engagement, and Bubbler programs
  • Eliminate evening hours at seven libraries (-$644,205)
• Public Health
  • Eliminate funding for Wellness Initiatives (-$10,000)
  • Eliminate funding for Narcan for business (-$15,000)
  • Eliminate funding for Vivent Health (AIDS Resource Center) (-$27,394)
  • Eliminate funding for Safe Communities-Substance Use and Injury Prevention (-$78,278) 
  • Eliminate city’s contributions for Access Community Health Center (-$188,000)
  • Eliminate funding for Violence Prevention contract with Focused Interruption (-$210,000)
• Parks
  • Eliminate 6 FTE positions and 110 seasonal hourly positions
  • Eliminate city support for Aquatics Program
  • Severe Reduction to Winter Recreation
  • Indefinite Closure of Park Facilities
    • 16 of 63 restrooms will not be maintained and 53 of 190 drinking fountains will not be operational or maintained
• Metro
  • Reduce Late Night Service (-$800,000)
  • Reduce Weekend Services ($2,400,000)
  • Eliminate Individual Routes - Route O (-$600,000), Route L (-$800,000), and Route J (-$700,000)
• Traffic Engineering
  • Eliminate 10 Crossing Guard Positions (-$75,086)
  • Eliminate Summer School Crossing Guard Program ($4,538)
  • Reduce Traffic Engineering Positions (-$75,135)

  • Reduce Pedestrian Bicycle Staff Time (-$53,239)

    These represent just some, not all, service reductions. Friends, if we do not want to see this level of drastically reduced public services, the answer is clear. We must go to referendum.