Budget 2023 Round up

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I want to give a big thanks to all my colleagues on the County Board and Personnel and Finance Committee. I had the honor of presenting the Land and Water budget and UW Extension budgets to the P and F committee. I am grateful for the countless hours that all the board put in on an amended budget and I believe these amendments will make the budget stronger.

Here are some highlights from a recent press release:

  • Two amendments included in the recommendation from Personnel and Finance provide an increase in wages for Point of Service agencies, including an additional 2.5% Point of Service COLA increase, bringing the total to 7.0%, as well as an increase of $1.065 million to Journey Mental Health to allow wage increases among staff involved in the crisis response system.

Several amendments focused on addressing affordable housing in Dane County. Some of those amendments include:

  • $1.35 million designated for St. Johns affordable housing project;

  • Two new Case Manager positions to assist shelter guests with achieving housing and economic stability

  • One new Housing Program Specialist

  • A $10 million increase to the Affordable Housing Development fund;

  • A new capital housing fund of $8 million targeted for farmworker housing;

  • A $217,500 increase for the Fair Chance Housing Fund that was created in 2023 to fund support services for persons with criminal record barriers in accessing housing;

  • An increase of $68,000 in Public Health Madison Dane County to support amendments to contracts in 2024 of current Violence Prevention Unit 2023 grantees to support tenant capacity building. With these funds, community based organizations already serving vulnerable residential tenants experiencing a number of issues impacting their safety and stability (including unsafe housing conditions, housing discrimination, and other tenant and consumer protection violations) would have necessary resources to support tenant education and empowerment.

I also amended the Capital Budget to require that the Zoo fully raise $4 million dollar in their Capital Campaign prior to construction of the Heart of the Zoo” project, which would include a new, indoor-outdoor enclosure for the giraffes. I gave detailed accounting of why of WORT-FM. I encourage you all to give it a listen:

https://www.wortfm.org/dane-county-supervisor-to-propose-amendment-to-zoo-funding/

We will be taking a final vote on the budget on Monday November 6th. I am looking forward to completing this budget which makes important investments in all aspects of our community for a better Dane County for all of our neighbors.