Let's Talk Budget: 2025 Executive & Alternate

Executive Budget Options

As a crucial part of the budget process, the Finance Committee is considering two options before they are presented to the Council in November for final budget adoption.

• Option 1 assumes an increase of revenues up to $22M
• Option 2 assumes the referendum fails and the budget's $22M deficit must be balanced using a combination of funding sources. 
  • This combination includes an Infrastructure fee, tapping on the general fund, and service cuts.

Each of these sources will contribute a portion to the deficit, and the Council needs to consider the implications of each carefully. Some critics have suggested that the Council fill the gap with one-time funds sourced from the rainy day fund. It is as if these critics have already forgotten that this administration got the city through a global pandemic that eliminated parking revenues and depleted the Monona Terrace rainy day fund. The Room Tax funds also took a hit, and we are still barely recovering from it.

Recently, I took the G402—National Incident Management System Overview for Senior Officials training course. The class is designed to familiarize Senior Officials with their role in supporting incident management within the National Incident Management System (NIMS)." I learned a lot about NIMS, but it also reminded me of the critical need to ensure emergency funds are available to tackle any natural disaster and the next pandemic.

While I cannot predict the outcome of the Council's vote, I would personally advocate for combining funding sources, including a Special Charge, in the event of a failed referendum.

The following chart summarizes the Executive Budget options: