Operating Budget Amendments, Review of Leashed Dogs in Forest Hill Cemetery, Metro Transit Public Hearing

Hi Everyone,

Lots going on this week of beautiful fall weather. Please remember to keep your leaves out of the street. Click here to find out when yours will be picked up. If you do, you'll note that for many in D13, leaf and yard waste pick up will be occuring this week, with a final collection date set for three weeks from now. Consider home composting as a way of managing those leaves. Once you get the hang of it, you'll have your own source of humus to nourish your homegrown flowers and vegetables.

Here are this week's updates:

Finance Committee to Consider 2023 Operating Budget Amendments Later Today, Monday, October 31st.

In mid-November, Common Council will vote on the 2023 City Budget, which includes both the operating and the capital budgets. Tonight at the Finance Committee, we will be considering 23 amendments to the Mayor's Executive Operating Budget that have been advanced by alders. Most of the amendments are minor, while two would have signficant impact.

District 4 Alder Mike Verveer and I have put forth an amendment to achieve wage parity among city workers. The city's general municipal employees have seen a 6% gap in their wage rates when compared to the increases that were provided to those in the police and fire departments. This is largely a consequence of Act 10, whereby general municipal employees no longer have collective bargaining rights, rights that were retained by our protective services employees.

Two years ago, Common Council passed a good faith resolution to address this inequity by 2024. The Mayor's Executive Budget does not share this same commitment, but rather extends the catch up date to 2028. If Common Council accepts the Mayor's timeline, we will be signaling a willingness to use the wage gap to fund new hires and services rather than meeting our obligations to existing employees. I find this unacceptable, which is why I've joined with Alders Verveer and Carter to advance this amendment to the Finance Committee.

The other significant amendment addresses alder pay. Alder pay is way out of balance with the demands of the job. This is a holdover from a system that favors strong executive and administrative branches of our local city government and a weak legislative branch. A pay increase is warranted. However, the proposed 150% increase may be too much to take on all at once, particularly in an uncertain economy.

If you can't make it to tonight's Finance Committe meeting, you may watch the recorded meeting later on City Channel. If you have questions and/or concerns about the budget, please email me at district13@cityofmadison.com.

Upcoming Review of Leashed Dogs at Forest Hill Cemetery

In early 2020, Madison Parks revamped its mostly dog-prohibitive ordinances with more dog-friendly ones - allowing licensed, permitted, and leashed dogs in most city parks. At that time, I appeared before the the Board of Parks Commissioners, requesting that leashed dogs be allowed in Forest Hill Cemetery, a request that was approved. The Board will be reviewing requests for changes in the status of Forest Hill Cemetery at its November 9 meeting. 

As a frequent dog walker in Forest Hill Cemetery with Bella, my 2 year-old lab/chow mix, it's my strong belief that the overwhelming majority of those walking their dogs in the cemetery are in compliance with the rules. Banning dogs from the cemetery would therefore punish those who are in compliance, while doing little to address the behavior of those who are not.  If you have an opinion on this matter, please submit an email to pacommission@cityofmadison.com on or before Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Madison Transit Public Hearing

Metro Transit is holding one last virtual public hearing on Wednesday, November 9 at 6 pm to discuss final details related to the June 2023 service redesign.

Complete information can be found at this link: https://www.cityofmadison.com/metro/routes-schedules/public-hearing-scheduled

Items to be reviewed at the hearing are:

• Equity Analysis Summary
• Equity Analysis Full Report  
• Bus Stop Placements: Stops to Close // New Stops //  Maps
• Route Start/End Times  
• Route Name Updates
• DRAFT System Map 

A number of these items have also been translated into alternate languages and available here. Print-outs of these items have been dropped off at the Madison library, and they should be available at all locations shortly. The meeting itself will be interpreted in Spanish, Hmong, Chinese and ASL. It will be live-captioned in English with recordings captioned in these languages later on.  For those that may not have access to a computer, Metro staff will help promote any engagement party groups that might watch/virtually attend the meeting at the same location. Please let staff know if you are aware of any of these group event; they'd be glad to reach out to coordinate with them ahead of time. To contact Metro staff, please email mymetrobus@cityofmadison.com or call (608) 266-4466.

COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic in District 13 on November 9th

Welcome Town of Madison Residents to the City of Madison

Today is the long-anticipated day in which the City of Madison will start providing services to approximately 5,000 new residents, 2407 housing units, and 835 parcels formerly part of the Town of Madison.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to the residents near the Arboretum who are today joining District 13. I look forward to getting to know you and serving you as your alder. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. I can be reached at district13@cityofmadison.com or by calling 608.424.2580.

Take care and stay safe,

Tag