D6 Items of Interest Week of March 4, 2024
postedThe 2025 budget will take up the majority of the Council meeting on Tuesday. We will meet as the Committee of the Whole in order to have a conversation about budget approaches. The Wisconsin Policy Forum will make a presentation about the city’s finances, along with another presentation from Finance staff, see links below for the power points and alder blogs on the budget. Lately the Council has been hearing from community voices who want the city to maintain services and staffing levels. If that is your view, will you vote in support of a referendum to exceed the levy limit? If you think there should be operating budget cuts, new fees, etc, what would you support?
I am working on organizing a neighborhood zoom meeting about the location of the future Amtrak station, more details when the date is confirmed.
On Wednesday March 6, there will be a dedication of the Tony Robinson mural at McPike Park starting at 5p, with a walk at 6:15p to 1125 Willy St where Tony was killed and a moment of silence at 6:38p.
Tuesday March 5 – Common Council – 6:30p CC Agenda 03.05.24
1. 82328 Presentation: The Nature Everywhere program focuses on increasing equitable access to nature for children
HONORING RESOLUTIONS
2. 82221 Celebrating March 8, 2024, as International Women's Day in the City of Madison
3. 82273 Proclaiming April 28, 2024 as World Migratory Bird Day 2024 in the City of Madison.
4. 82279 Commemorating the 54th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, 2024, to proclaim April 20, 2024 as Earth Day Challenge Day, and to endorse and encourage citizen participation in the clean-up events at City of Madison Parks.
6. 82356 Presentation: Wisconsin Policy Forum World Policy Forum: A Look At Madison's Finances
I don’t think the WPF has ever made a presentation about our budget to the Council before.
7. 82316 Committee of the Whole meeting related to the 2025 budget outlook and addressing the structural deficit.
A Committee of the Whole meeting allows the CC to have a more informal discussion. The Council President, not the Mayor, acts as chair. Alders have the ability to have a conversation between alders, without having to direct comments to the Chair.
We are faced with a structural deficit based on the fact that our “cost to continue” exceeds the levy limit imposed by state law. Currently Finance staff is projecting a $27M shortfall, but that number could change.
The Finance Staff will lead off with a presentation on the 2025 budget outlook and then the Council will begin the discussion and possibly recommend actions or an approach to the 2025 budget. The legistar link also includes a 5% cut scenario from 2022 to show what types of cuts were proposed by departments heads at the time. Cuts proposed included things like eliminating or underfilling positions, reducing hourly positions in Streets and Parks, closing 3 Fire stations, cutting Central Library evening hours and Sunday hours at all libraries, and eliminating mental health training for MPD officers. I picked a few to highlight from over 100 items in the link.
There is a comprehensive look at the 2025 budget outlook on the Finance Department website. In addition, several Alders have published blogs about the budget. My colleagues have clearly spent a lot of time preparing detailed materials to share. I know all alders are seriously thinking about the future. I appreciate everyone’s efforts. We are all in this together.
Here is my 30,000-foot overview. We may need to prepare more than one budget to include a combination of proposed solutions. My ideal is to maintain the high quality of services including programs that serve the most vulnerable residents, continue to provide wage equity for city staff and avoid layoffs, and use the most progressive approach to taxation for fairness.
We rely on real estate taxes for about 45% of our revenues (see the Wisconsin Policy Forum presentation) which generally speaking are not based on one’s ability to pay but on the assessed value of your property. Renters pay for real estate taxes through their rent, and we know many renters are rent-burdened and pay more than 30% of their income on rent.
But real estate taxes may be more “progressive” than a flat special charge or impact fee that we could consider for transportation services, for example, which are projected to cost about $27M. For the special charges fee, you divide the cost of the service by the number of tax parcels. This type of fee is flat and would show up on your annual municipal services bill like the recycling and urban forestry fees.
We could put together a budget with the projected $27M shortfall covered by a referendum to exceed the levy limit and ask voters to adopt it in November when there will be lots of people showing up for the Presidential election. The amount would be based on your property value and thus slightly more progressive than a flat fee. But as the Finance documents have noted, our structural deficit will not be solved with a 1x referendum.
And I understand the School Board is also considering a referendum.
If we decide to seek a referendum to cover the entire shortfall, we should also prepare a plan b budget if the referendum fails. Adopting the 2025 budget will take place after the November election. At this point, I’m not sure what the combination approach should look like. Tuesday’s meeting may arrive at a direction.
Meanwhile campus/downtown/isthmus alders are working on a budget listening session, stay tuned. This conversation will continue for the rest of the year. Please take a look at the resources and help us come up with a community informed approach.
13. 82080 Approving Plans, Specifications, And Schedule Of Assessments For Rutledge St Reconstruction Assessment District - 2024 (District 6).
15. 81963 SUBSTITUTE: Amending Chapter 28 of the Madison General Ordinances to Clarify Various Underground and Site Parking Requirements.
INTRODUCTION OF NEW BUSINESS FOR REFERRAL WITHOUT DEBATE
103. 82259 Approving the Amendment to the Project Plan for Tax Incremental District (TID) #36 (Capitol Gateway), City of Madison. (District 6, District 12) Sponsors: Marsha A. Rummel And Amani Latimer Burris
111. 82280 Authorizing a noncompetitive contract for Purchase of Services (Architect) with Meyer Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd to complete professional architectural and engineering design, construction administration, and warranty services for the construction of the Madison Public Market. (District 12) Sponsors: Marsha A. Rummel, Sabrina V. Madison, Amani Latimer Burris And Regina M. Vidaver
115. 82303 Approving the stormwater WPDES annual report to the WDNR. Review and approval of this report is required as a condition of the City of Madison’s discharge permit from the WDNR/EPA as authorized under NR-216. (City Wide) Sponsors: Marsha A. Rummel, Nikki Conklin And John P. Guequierre
134. 82079 Directing the Finance Department to issue a report analyzing City operating budgets from 2019-2024 and calling on the State Legislature to authorize local sales tax options Sponsors: Amani Latimer Burris
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Alder Marsha A. Rummel
District 6
Contact Alder Rummel