Madison is Seeking a Funding Referendum

Our community is at an important crossroads. Madison is in the fastest-growing area in the state because it’s a great place to live and work. But due to the State Legislature’s artificial caps on revenue, our city cannot capture the benefits of that growth, or even keep up with inflation. That's why the City's operating budget has a $22 million structural deficit.

In order to continue to invest in Madison's future and balance the budget, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway introduced a $22 million funding referendum resolution in July. The Common Council voted 17-2 to place that referendum on the November 5 ballot allowing voters to decide whether to increase the property tax levy.

Madison's skyline at dusk
People attending the Madison Night Market

Why the Referendum is Important

If voters approve the referendum, Madison can adopt a City Budget that avoids significant reductions in City services in 2025 and even deeper cuts in future budgets. This will increase property taxes for the average homeowner by $230 annually. That's roughly $50 per $100,000 of property value, or less than $1 per day for the median home.

To balance the budget without a referendum, Madison would need significant reductions in services starting next year. Cuts will impact the entire city workforce from our garbage truck drivers, to our librarians, to police, fire and community services. If the referendum fails city operations will be reduced by $6 million in 2025 and Madison will be forced to make severe cuts to the services that residents rely on and love for the foreseeable future.

  • $54M in missing state aid

    A referendum would not be necessary if Madison simply received the average rate of shared revenue. Instead of $54 million, Madison receives less than $9 million. This amounts to $29 per resident. In comparison, most Wisconsin cities receive $195 per resident.

  • 18¢ Aid to Madison for every dollar paid to the state

    Madison residents get back less than 20 percent for every dollar they pay in state taxes. This includes state aid provided to the City, School Districts, and Dane County.

  • $13M Annual revenue if state fully paid its municipal service payment

    Wisconsin cities provide services to State-owned facilities such as police and fire protections. In 2024, Madison only received 38 percent of what the State says it owes for these services.

  • $4.6B Size of state surplus

    Wisconsin currently has an enormous surplus. The surplus is generated from declining support of cities and other public institutions. Madison and other Wisconsin communities need more state support to survive and thrive.

Madison's mental health workers

Madison Provides Essential Services to Residents

Madison provides critical services from pure water to public health, from police and fire, to emergency mental health services. City workers pick up our garbage, maintain our parks, and staff our libraries and voting booths. If  you need help in the middle of the night, most likely a city worker will respond. 

  • $22M City structural deficit ahead of the 2025 budget

    Madison has faced a budget shortfall of some degree every year for the past 14 years due to strict state revenue restrictions. The City's total operating budget, made up largely of employee wages, is $405 million in 2024.

  • 19% Madison's population growth since 2014

    Madison is booming — it is the fastest growing community in the entire state with nearly 50,000 new residents since 2014. But the City has fewer workers per capita to deliver basic services.

  • 217 Additional employees if City workforce kept pace with population growth

    The total number of full-time City employees hasn’t kept up with Madison’s population increase since 2014. The City is providing service to more people with fewer employees per resident.

  • FLAT Funding for Metro Transit in operating budget since 2014

    Madison Metro is receiving almost exactly the same amount annually from the operating budget as it was in 2014 when adjusted for inflation. Infrastructure improvements in the capital budget for bus rapid transit, largely paid for with federal dollars, do not impact available revenue in the Operating Budget.

Madison receives $29 in shared revenue per resident, the average is $195

Reasons for the Structural Deficit

The City's structural deficit is the result of two basic dynamics: a rapidly growing city and restrictions on revenue enacted by State Legislature and former Gov. Scott Walker. Since 2011, the State Legislature has strictly limited the amount of revenues available to pay for City Services. 

In addition, the State Legislature distributes shared revenue to intentionally give less to Madison. The average received by cities in Wisconsin is $195 per resident. Green Bay receives more than six times more per resident than Madison in shared revenue. West Allis, a city with a population a quarter of Madison's, receives more shared revenue. Madison receives $29, the lowest amount per resident of any city in Wisconsin.

Despite being a primary driver of the state economy and contributing over $1 billion dollars in state taxes, Madison residents get just 18 cents for every dollar they pay in state taxes. And that includes state aid provided to the City, School Districts, and Dane County.

The main reason for the lower amount for Madison is cuts in shared revenues made to balance the state’s budget between 2003 and 2011. If shared revenue had increased at the rate of inflation since 2003, Madison would be receiving nearly $20 million in 2024. If Madison received the per-resident average for Wisconsin cities, we would get $54 million.

Contact your State Legislator

Budget Timeline

  1. Finance Department Informational Budget Series Completed

  2. Council Public Engagement on Budget Completed

  3. Election Day Completed

  4. Final Approval of the 2025 Budget Upcoming

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Madison have a structural deficit?

The City’s structural deficit is the result of two basic dynamics: a rapidly growing city and harsh restrictions on revenue enacted by the State Legislature and former Gov. Scott Walker. Since 2011, the State Legislature has strictly limited the amount of revenues available to pay for City services. According to the independent Wisconsin Policy Forum, Wisconsin has the one of the tightest restrictions on increases in the entire country. As a result, the City has had to close deficits in every City budget since that time.

  • Revenue restrictions have caused deficits each year of approximately $10 million.
  • The latest estimate of the deficit for 2025 is $22 million.
  • The City has done many things to balance its budget over the past 13 years, such as increasing the amount that employees pay for their pensions and health insurance, increasing existing fees, and creating new special charges.
  • Limits on City revenues under state law — property taxes levy limits, no local sales tax, no local income tax, low level of shared revenue — have not allowed the City to keep up with the need for services.

What revenues can the City use to pay for services?

Madison is limited mainly to using property taxes to pay for services. Over 70% of the City’s budget comes from the property tax. In fact, Wisconsin municipalities are the most dependent on property tax of any state in the Midwest and are some of the most limited in the entire country due to the state legislature’s restrictive policies. Moreover, Madison has over 1500 tax-exempt properties, including many extremely prominent and high-value locations such as the UW Campus and state government buildings that are cut out of the City’s property tax base, further shifting the burden of property taxes onto residential property owners.

  • The State constitution and state law requires that property taxes be uniformly applied. This means that there cannot be different tax rates for different property nor surcharges for certain types of property. For instance, the City is not allowed to reduce property taxes just for seniors or for those living on fixed incomes.
  • The City can charge for services (for example, ambulance fees), collect fees for licenses and permits (such as building permits), and issue fines and forfeitures (parking tickets). Revenues from these charges and fees cannot exceed the cost of the service provided; that means, for instance, that Madison cannot charge large commercial developers more money and then use that money to fund other services for residents.
  • Madison has a 10% room tax. Each 1% on the room tax generates about $2 million. Under state law, only 30 cents of every dollar raised can be used for general City services. The remaining 70 cents must be used for “tourism-related activities.”
  • The City is allowed to have a local vehicle registration fee under state law. In 2020, the City created a $40 annual vehicle registration fee.
  • Wisconsin cities are allowed to have special charges for certain services under state law. The City has created an urban forestry special charge and a resource recovery special charge. These special charges raise a total of about $10 million annually for those services.
  • Special charges could be created for other city-wide services, such as transportation infrastructure and parks.

How did the COVID pandemic impact Madison’s budget?

The economic effects of the pandemic exacerbated the City’s budget deficit.

  • The COVID pandemic significantly reduced City revenues, which remain below pre-pandemic levels to this day.
  • Meanwhile, costs have increased in the last couple of years due to the high rate of inflation.
  • ARPA funding helped address the deficit while maintaining basic city services over the past 5 years. That funding is no longer available.

Do projects such as Bus Rapid Transit or the Public Market impact the 2025 budget deficit?

These and other large infrastructure projects are part of the City’s capital budget, which is funded by long-term debt, and were previously approved by the Common Council. That funding does not come out of the City’s operating budget that pays for City services, nor can it be used to pay for the ongoing cost of those services. The interest on that debt, or “debt service,” will eventually need to be paid back but does not directly impact the $22 million budget gap. Moreover, the vast majority of the bus rapid transit project is funded by federal infrastructure spending, and not via local taxes.

Can the City levy a local sales tax?

No. State law does not allow local sales taxes for cities. The exception is the City of Milwaukee, which as of 2023 was authorized to enact a local sales tax by the State Legislature in order to avoid bankruptcy. 

  • The State Legislature would have to pass a law allowing Madison and other cities to levy a sales tax; it has repeatedly declined to do so despite being asked by Madison and other cities across the state for that authority. 
  • Gov. Tony Evers has requested a 0.5% sales tax for cities in his recent budgets. The State Legislature has stripped that language from each and the current legislative leadership has made it clear that they have no intention of granting that authority.

How much one-time federal and other funding was used in the 2024 budget?

One-time funding such as surpluses from closed TIF districts, and allocations from the City’s “Rainy Day Fund” used haves been used in many previous City budgets.

The 2024 budget includes one-time funding of $9 million from the City’s fund balance (“rainy day fund”) and one-time funding of $3 million from surpluses in closed tax increment district, as well as the final $5.6 million of the ARPA SLFRF funding is allocated in the 2024 budget.

Do City agency budgets get audited or examined for a lack of efficiency?

Madison is continuously reviewing its processes and seeking efficiencies. In fact, the City is currently operating with 11% fewer staff per resident than it did just a decade ago.

  • City agencies are audited on a 5-year cycle for review of internal controls and identification of ways to improve efficiency.
  • The Results Madison initiative is a strategic framework intended to align city services with the outcomes that matter most to Madison residents. To further improve efficiency, City agencies are currently in the process of developing performance measures related to the services and activities they provide.

Why do we do a cost-to-continue budget rather than zero-based budgeting?

As a local government, the services we provide are dictated by the needs and vision of Madison’s residents and their elected officials.

  • The City currently uses what is called a “cost-to-continue” budget process, which allows us to account for inflation in the cost of providing the same level of service year over year.
  • “Zero-based budgeting,” which means starting from scratch each year, is another way to evaluate services.
  • Both processes include a review of every budget line item. And under either system, the Common Council may vote to discontinue a service or to add a new service to any agency’s budget during their deliberations.
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