Let's talk about the Budget - 2023: Finance Meeting 8/29

Budget 2023 - Is Upon Us!

Finance is preparing a brief presentation to review the budget timeline and legislative amendment process at the Monday, August 29th Finance Committee meeting (starting at 4:30 pm). See meeting registration information at the end of this page.

Join the Budget Season Ride:  

To get ready, it is good practice to review prior presentations:

1. "2023 Capital Budget Update (Legistar 71490) at the 5/12/22 FC meeting: Attachments include a copy of the presentation to the Finance Committee, which provide a general overview of the budget process and a summary of agency capital requests. You can watch the recording starting at 1 hr:13 min.

   • Who should review this recording? Anyone who wants a refresher on the capital budget requests prior to the agency briefings at the 9/12-9/13 FC meetings. This is especially useful for Finance Committee members and other alders who want to engage in the capital budget deliberations as well as an opportunity for members of the community to get involved in budget allocations
2. Budget 101 at the 2021 ARPA Town Hall: Last year, the City presented a virtual Town Hall on the American Rescue Plan Act. The presentation started with a "Budget 101" and provided context on the City's structural deficit. Although the presentation is a year old, the key issues that remain relevant. You can watch the recording beginning at 5m:36s through 35m:00s

• Who should review this recording? Anyone who wants a basic overview of the budget process. The presentation was designed for a general audience and talks about the difference between the capital and operating budgets, provides an overview of the City's revenues and expenditures, and explains fiscal constraints on the budget." - Summary put together by Ms. Koh from Finance          

And there is more! 

Understand funding sources, budget types, limitations, and allocations.  Draw the lines between city priorities & funding.  Are we distributing funding on an equitable matter?  Are services reaching those in dire need?  How do we as community members can promote choices that focus on healthy and safe neighborhoods?  Outside of taxes, what is our contribution to making the city reach its potential?  Madison can indeed become the best place to live for ALL, it will take each of us to succeed.

Following is one more presentation opportunity Ms. Koh pulled for us:

1. "2021 New Alder Orientation: The Finance Department did an in-depth presentation on the budget for the New Alder Orientation in April 2021. This longer recording provides a deep dive into many aspects of the budget. Topics include limits on revenue growth, financial conditions, trends in debt service, and more. Most of the presentation is still relevant to the current budget, though some items are out of date (for example, the discussion on COVID recovery funds).

• Who should review this recording? Anyone who wants a (very) deep dive into the budget. 
• What's the time commitment? 2 hours, 40 minutes – it's long, but you can skip around to see what topics interest you."  

Agency Asks - Capital Budget:

For a list of agency requests been evaluated by the Mayor click here

The same template is used across agencies.  The template contains:

First:

• Agency Name
• Summary of CIP and Projects
• List of projects
• Narrative of changes and/or Priorities

Second:

• A letter to Finance from the agency sharing in detail the goals, priorities, and decision-making associated with each of the projects

Third:

• Each project also referred to as "Proposal Name" is described and justified in the context of the city's "Alignment with Strategic Plans and Citywide Priorities", "Racial Equity and Social Justice" and "Climate Resilience and Sustainability".
• This is one of the most important parts of the presentation.  The point of accountability and self-reflection.  We may all share the same core values, but how the priorities are defined is where we often find disagreement. 
• A budget for the proposal highlighted is presented
• If applicable high-level project plans/timelines are included as well as operational cost

Fourth:

• THE THIRD PART OF THE AGENCY ASK IS REPEATED FOR EACH PROPOSAL NAME (AKA "PROJECT") IF APPLICABLE

Agency Showcase:  CDD Capital Request

From the "First" section, a summary list of the projects supported by CDD:

From the "Second" section, Letter to Finance:

"The Community Development Division's 2023 Capital Budget centers on advancing the goals of the City's Housing Forward Initiative.  That plan calls for accelerating efforts to add housing options available to Madison residents, both in numbers and variety. It also commits the City to work collaboratively to establish safe and dignified spaces that will support people in our community who experience homelessness. Though Housing Forward adopts a Citywide perspective, its emphasis, and that of this capital budget, is on meeting the needs of households with more modest incomes and for whom housing instability is an immediate challenge."

For the complete ask from CDD and details on the budget and justification for each program click here.  

This table contains a list of the services and descriptions covered by CDD:

For a list of CDD Funding opportunities, current, and past as well as a list of organizations associated with each RFP go to the Community Development Funding Opportunities page:

https://www.cityofmadison.com/dpced/communitydevelopment/funding/

Finance Meeting Information: https://www.cityofmadison.com/city-hall/committees/finance-committee/8-29-2022