2025 Executive Operating Budget Proposal (and Cuts) Now Available

Overview

On Tuesday, October 8th, the Mayor released her proposed 2025 Operating Budget. Here is a link to a City webpage with the Mayor’s statement and a video recording of her press conference. As a reminder, the Operating Budget is primarily funded by the property tax and funds City staff and services for Madison residents. Under Wisconsin law, cities are heavily reliant on the local property tax, with revenue limits that have prevented City revenue sources from keeping up with inflation and growth at current service levels.

The 2025 Executive Operating Budget proposal assumes that the City referendum passes on November 5th – that there is $22 million in new revenue from a referendum approved by voters to exceed the state property tax levy limit. The proposal still proposes a 1% cut to City agency budgets for “efficiencies”, maintains the existing level of public services, and avoids new Special Charges in 2025.

Here is a link to a page with the 2025 Executive Operating Budget proposal, including links that provide more information about what is proposed to maintain services in most City agencies if the referendum passes (Police, Fire, Parks, Streets, etc.). One notable exception is that the proposal reduces the budget for the Office of the Independent Monitor by $195,000 “to reflect lower-than-expected activity” and reallocates that money to the library system for Reindahl Imagination Center start-up costs. 

The 2025 Executive Operating Budget proposal also includes an “Alternative Budget Preparation” section with a proposal to balance the 2025 Operating Budget in the event that the referendum does not pass. That section includes these strategies to balance the budget in 2025 as required by law: 

• $5.6 million in service and staff cuts (more on that below)
• $10 million in new revenue from a new infrastructure Special Charge on the monthly municipal services bill similar to the Urban Forestry special charge
• Using what it calls “a prudent amount” of General Fund/rainy day fund money

Proposed 2025 Cuts if the Referendum Fails

It’s important to remember that this deficit is structural in nature, with Operating costs rising faster than Operating Budget revenues are allowed to rise. Without a state policy or funding solution, some amount of an Operating Budget deficit will return in 2026 despite measures to balance the budget in 2025.

As such, if the November 5th referendum fails, the 2026 Operating Budget is planned to include an additional $6 million in new staff/service cuts beyond those made in 2025, and again in 2027, and so on. See my blog post for the week of August 12th for more information about the list of City agency 5% budget cuts that future budgets may include and how those would affect District 3.

Here's the list of proposed 2025 staff/service cuts in the Operating Budget if the referendum fails, copied from the 2025 Executive Operating Budget Proposal released on Tuesday:

Community Services

• Sunday hours would be eliminated from all libraries except for the Central library, and funding for library programming such as family story times, teen engagement programs, and job- and computer-training sessions would be reduced by $329,000.
• Over $500,000 would be cut from funding to community-based organizations that provide critical services like restorative justice programming, employment training, and funding assistance for early childhood programs.
• Grant support for the arts will be reduced and grants for neighborhood projects would be eliminated.
• City funding for the downtown Business Improvement District will be reduced by $62,000 which may lead to fewer downtown events.
• Eliminating currently vacant positions in Building Inspections will likely lengthen wait times and require more automated interactions when contacting the agency.
• Funding for city-operated ice rinks, which are increasingly unviable due to climate change, would be eliminated.

Government Services

• Reductions to vacant IT Media Team positions will require the City to reduce the number of meetings that are broadcast publicly for remote viewing.

Public Safety

• The popular CARES program, which provides mental health emergency response, will leave a position vacant and expand its limited coverage more slowly.
• All funding for the Office of the Independent Monitor and the Police Civilian Oversight Board would be eliminated.
• Recently enacted state laws instituted financial penalties that would further reduce the City budget if core police and fire budgets or staffing are reduced. The City values the services provided by both our Police and Fire departments. We also recognize they are the largest share of the budget. To equitably distribute cuts, the Police Department was asked to identify $300,000 in reductions, and the Fire Department was asked to identify $200,000 in reductions. In both scenarios, the reductions must not impact state requirements related to “maintenance of effort.”

Public Works

• The special charge paid by property owners for the State Street “mall maintenance” will increase from 50% to 75% of expenses.
• Cutting hourly staffing in the Streets department will significantly reduce weekday hours and eliminate Sunday hours at the city’s drop-off sites.
• Curbside brush pick-up will be reduced from five to three times per year, and the free woodchip program for residents would be eliminated.
• Overtime hours would not be used to clear snow from the arterial multi-use paths, which will slow snow removal from paths.

Transportation

• Metro will reduce service hours from their bus schedules.
• Cutting a vacant Traffic Engineering position would lead to longer wait times for traffic safety improvements.

Next Steps in the City Budget Process

Finance Committee

City agencies will present their portions of the 2025 Executive Operating Budget proposal to the Finance Committee next Monday and Tuesday. My weekly updates post this weekend will include the meeting agendas and information for how to watch the agency presentations. Then, the Finance Committee members have an opportunity to propose and vote on amendments to the 2025 Operating Budget in their October 28th Finance Committee meeting.

Common Council

The full Common Council will take up both the Capital and Operating Budgets in its special City Budget hearings scheduled for November 12th, 13th, and 14th (as needed). These budget meetings will take place after the November 5th election so we will know the result of the City referendum by then.