Transportation Budget

About 35% of a resident’s property tax bill is attributable to the City of Madison. 

The other two-thirds are allocated to school districts, Madison College, and Dane County.

The City of Madison Finance Division has provided informational videos regarding the current budget outlook.

You can see them here: Budget Outlook

The council and others were briefed on the 2025 budget earlier than in typical years in a series of videos posted in February 2024.  View the presentation.

In May and June City Alders are hosting a series of Budget Engagement sessions, view the series.

The traditional public input opportunities associated with the Capital and Operating budgets will occur with the Finance Commission and Common Council in September, October, and November of 2024. 

East-West Bus Rapid Transit is not anticipated to affect or increase the City’s operating budget.  The drivers and staff required to run E-W BRT are already reflected in the operating cost of Route A. When BRT is opened, these drivers will drive the electric BRT buses instead of the traditional 40-foot diesel buses.

The North-South BRT line is capital project that will construct similar BRT infrastructure as was provided to Madison’s west and east sides.

The FTA recommended  $118 million in federal Small Starts grant money for Madison’s N-S BRT, which helps Madison recapture federal monies that our residents pay in taxes each year.  

In the current CIP (Capital Improvement Program), Madison’s share of the $150 million Capital project is about $20.1 million, or 13.4%.  It is rare to be able to make such a substantive investment in the north and south sides of our community with 85% of the funding coming from other (mostly federal) sources.

Of the $20.1 million, $11.3 million has already been appropriated in previous budgets. The remaining $8.8 million is planned for appropriation in the 2025 Capital budget.  Of that, $5 million will be paid for via TIF.

This N-S BRT is not anticipated to increase the Operating budget.  The service hours, mostly in driver time, are already reflected  by Metro’s existing Route B.  There may be small efficiencies in the number of buses needed because of the dedicated bus lanes. These efficiencies may be offset by station maintenance costs.

The North-South BRT line will serve neighborhoods that have traditionally been underserved by our transportation system—51 percent of families are low-income, 42 percent are people of color, 8 percent are people with disabilities, and 19 percent are car-free households within a half-mile of the North-South route alignment. 

Sometimes when a Capital budget receives federal grant money, as is the case for the $218 million of federal money awarded to Madison for MetroRapid, there can be a corresponding increase in operating costs for new staff.  In this instance, the E-W and N-S BRT route operating costs are already represented by existing Routes A and B in service hours. Metro is not anticipating a change in operating expenses for Routes A and B. 

Over the past two years, metro has increased the number of positions at the agency. The majority of metro staffing increases are associated with transit service our partners (such as UW Madison, Fitchburg, etc.) are purchasing from Metro Transit.  Metro Transit contracts individually with 13 different cities and partners to provide them transit service.  Partner payments cover the complete cost of the service within their boundaries, from the bus operators through the management staff. The increased service to our partners does not affect Madison’s operating budget. 

The Vision Zero initiative is the City’s strategy to make it safe for everyone to travel whether they walk, bike, drive or take transit. Safe Streets is the City’s primary funding mechanism for making these safety improvements and ensuring that the City has a connected network of walking and biking facilities. The Capital Budget includes local funds and grant funds to cover these improvements while the Operating Budget covers the associated personnel and operating expenses to deliver and maintain these projects.

The redevelopment of the State Street Campus – Lake Street Garage has begun. This capital project replaces the former Lake Street (State Street Campus) which was over 60 years old. When completed in 2026, it will provide public parking, an intercity bus depot, and additional housing in the campus area.

The $50 million project is funded through a combination of air rights payments, tax incremental finance district funding, and the general parking fund. It is not anticipated to affect the operating budget, although some debt payments will be serviced from the general parking fund.