News Story

Tonight the Madison Common Council approved the 2022 Capital and Operating Budgets after three evenings of deliberations. The Council adopted a $354,244,062 Capital Budget and a $360,321,028 Operating Budget.

“This was another difficult budget season given revenue losses caused by COVID-19 and a structural budget deficit all local governments in Wisconsin face due to severe limitations on our ability to raise revenue imposed by the State Legislature,” said Mayor Rhodes-Conway, “I want to extend my sincere gratitude to the Biden administration and Congress for passing the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). With the support of ARPA funding, we were able to adopt a fiscally responsible balanced budget that meets the needs of our community and keeps tax increases low.”

The Mayor is pleased that Council has continued to show strong support for City priorities, including: 

• Funding to staff an ambulance at Fire Station 14 and expanding eligibility for the ambulance hardship waiver program
• Supporting the construction of affordable housing, including for youth aging out of foster care, and programs that support tenants, increase homeownership and help keep current homeowners in their homes.
• Expansion of violence prevention services within the public health department, with new funding to focus on gun violence.
• New investments in our young people with support for youth programming and jobs.
• Continued support for Bus Rapid Transit which will deliver a faster, more efficient mass transit system that will serve as a backbone of our economy and help reduce our climate footprint.
• Increased efforts to safely and humanely provide solutions to support people experiencing homelessness.
• Continued support for the Madison Community Alternative Response Emergency Services (CARES) program, an alternative response system for mental health 911 calls.
• Equitable service delivery for the new residents from the Town of Madison who will be joining our City in 2022.
• Full funding for the Civilian Oversight Board and Office of the Independent Police Monitor which will soon begin its work focusing on continuous improvement in policing policies and procedures.
• Funding 3 community connector positions in the department of civil rights to provide bilingual, bicultural support for residents who speak Spanish, Hmong, and Mandarin.

“Taxpayers will be pleased to know that we accomplished all this while holding the property tax increase to the lowest level in many years. The 15-year average levy increase for City government has been 4.1 percent. This year, it will be 1.2 percent, the lowest in twenty years.” said the Mayor.