P.O. Box 1222, Madison, WI 53701 | www.prodane.org | office@prodane.org | (608) 257-4985
The city council will meet again tonight at 7pm to consider the rest of the 2006 capital budget and all of the 2006 operating budget. That means you still have time to let the council and the mayor know how you feel about the proposed budget amendments (listed below).
The council heard four hours worth of testimony last night (click here ) about what our priorities should be as a city. The vast majority of this testimony was arguing for city services to be maintained or improved. Not one person said the council should cut services to keep taxes down. Not one. It's clear how we as a community feel about this. What's not clear is what the council will do tonight. You can still influence that – let your voice be heard.
Please do any or all of the following:
a) council(at)cityofmadison(dot)com to send an e-mail to all alders
b) call 266-4611 and leave a message for council members
c) contact your alder (click here to find out who your alder is and here to find out their contact information)
A full list of budget amendments can be found here or look below:
Operating Budget
Capital Budget
Capital Budget
#8 cut funding for city channel painting and carpet replacement – sponsored by Konkel and Gruber
#9 cut funding for carpet replacement in MMB 260 - sponsored by Konkel and King
#11 funding for affordable housing in TIF districts – 10% set aside. No levy impact – sponsored by Konkel, King, Verveer
Operating Budget
#1 cuts sister city program - $10K – sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas, Compton
Two people testified against, none for
#2 cuts study circles - $20K - sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas, Compton
Two people testified against, none for
#3 adds $40K for "transit for jobs" and moves it to OCS - sponsored by Konkel, Benford, Gruber
#4 removes contingency from affordable housing trust fund funding - sponsored by Konkel, King
One person testified for, none against
#5 allows $200K to go to affordable housing trust fund if it's in contingent reserve at end of 2006 - sponsored by Konkel, King
One person testified for, none against
#6 charges the parking utility $500K for use of public land - sponsored by Golden, Konkel, Webber
Three people testified for, none against
#7 increases building permits by $0.01/sq ft - +$400K - sponsored by Konkel, King, Gruber
One person testified for, none against
#8 cuts extra funding to convention and visitors bureau - $146,950 - sponsored by Konkel, Webber
Three people testified against, none for
#9 reduces extra funding to convention and visitors bureau - $73,475- sponsored by King, Olson
Three people testified against, none for
#10 raises room tax - +$430K- sponsored by Konkel, King
One person testified for, two against
#11 uses money from room tax to pay for city's contribution to Overture, freeing up general fund dollars- sponsored by Konkel, King
One person testified for, two against
#12 cuts the advertising budget of 18 agencies by 10% - $27,603- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas, Compton
#14 cuts funding for police cars and other police support budget - $85,220- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas,
#15 adds security screening for three city facilities in anticipation of concealed carry law - $996K- sponsored by Konkel, King
#17 adds a public health nursing position - $24,492 - sponsored by Konkel, Verveer, Webber, Olson
One person testified for, none against
#18 cuts funding to the joint board of health - $2,134- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas, Compton
#19 cuts funding to AIDS Network - $6K- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas
Five people testified against, none for
#20 adds $5K for safe communities coalition- sponsored by Gruber, Olson, King
One person testified for, none against
#21 restores funding to continue an accessibility tool for EOC - $3K - sponsored by Konkel, Olson
#22 moves funds from EOC reserve to the fair housing contract - $2,268 - - sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas, Compton
#23 deletes funding for an intern in the city attorney's office - $2500- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas, Compton
#24 adds funds to enforce anti-sweatshop policy - sponsored by King, Konkel
One person testified for, none against
#25 cuts a clerk-typist form the clerical pool - $45,614 - sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Palm, Radomski, Knox
#26 cuts $20K from golf course fertilizer/chemical budget- sponsored by Konkel, King
#27 restores funding for crosswalk snow removal - $25,069- sponsored by Konkel, Olson
One person testified for, none against
#28 adds funding for paratransit - $620,700- sponsored by Golden, Konkel, Webber
Twenty one people testified for, none against
#29 adds funding for Metro to avoid service cuts - $558K- sponsored by Webber, Konkel, Golden, Olson
Twenty four people testified for, none against
#30 adds a traffic engineer to do traffic calming - $65,865- sponsored by Golden, Olson
#31 reduces traffic engineering "general work supplies" budget - $50K- sponsored by Konkel, King
#32 cuts funding for parking ramp signs - $500K- sponsored by Konkel, King
One person testified for, none against
#33 adds funding for the office of business resources - $50K- sponsored by Konkel, Olson, Verveer
#34 cuts funding for jobs with a future - $5K- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas, Compton
One person testified against, none for
#35 cuts a position in the planners office - $54K- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Van Rooy, Knox, Compton
#36 adds funding for a Regent St. master plan - $20K- sponsored by King, Knox, Webber
Two people testified for, none against
#37 adds funding to reduce the child care assistance waiting list - $225K- sponsored by Konkel, Benford
Four people testified for, none against
#38 funds the "weed and seed" position if federal funds are not received - $13,739- sponsored by Golden, Konkel
Two people testified for, none against
#39 cuts funding for a child care specialist - $35,390 - sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas, Compton
One person testified against, none for
#40 cuts funding for the youth by youth program - $3400- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Thomas, Compton
Two people testified against, none for
#41 moves planning councils to the planning unit and makes the funding process competitive- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Van Rooy, Radomski, Knox, Thomas, Compton
Twenty people testified against, none for
#42 changes the description of the "transit for jobs" program - no fiscal impact- sponsored by Golden, Konkel
#43 cuts funding for the senior center receptionist - $6500- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Cnare, Palm, Radomski, Knox, Thomas
One person testified against, none for
#44 cuts funding for Sunday hours at the downtown library - $60K- sponsored by Brandon, Sanborn, Radomski, Knox, Thomas, Compton
Four people testified against, none for
Posted by prodane at 10:15 PM
Last night many of our neighbors spoke eloquently about their priorities for the city budget. Thank you to those of you who came to register and to speak. After the testimony, the council debated and voted on seven of the eleven amendments in the capital budget. They did not touch the operating budget. Here are the results:
#1 - cut funding for tasers: failed
one person testified in favor, none against
for: Webber, King, Konkel
against: VanRooy, Verveer, Compton, Benford, Golden, Cnare, Gruber, Knox, Palm, Olson, Radomski, Rosas, Sandborn, Skidmore, Thomas, Bruer, Brandon
#2 - allow use of TIF funds for the Capital sq/State st. project if federal funding doesn't come through: passed
no testimony
adopted unanimously
#3 - cut funding for capital square bus shelters: passed
nine people testified in favor, none against
for: VanRooy, Compton, Cnare, Knox, Palm, Rosas, Sandborn, Skidmore, Thomas, Brandon
against: Webber, King, Konkel, Verveer, Benford, Bruer, Golden, Gruber, Olson, Radomski, Cieslewicz
#4 - cut funding for railroad crossings (gates and improvements): failed
one person testified in favor, three against
for: VanRooy, Compton, Cnare, Knox, Palm, Rosas, Sandborn, Skidmore, Thomas, Brandon, Bruer,Gruber, Radomski,
against: Webber, King, Konkel, Verveer, Benford, Golden, Olson
#5 and #6 passed unanimously, no testimony, these were mostly technical
#7 cut funding for mid-state st. ramp: failed
five people testified in favor, ten against
for: Webber, Konkel, Palm
against: VanRooy, Verveer, Compton, Benford, Golden, Cnare, Gruber, Knox, Olson, Radomski, Rosas, Sandborn, Skidmore, Thomas, Bruer, Brandon, King
Alder Cnare moved reconsideration of #4, the railroad crossings, and proposed an amendment to only fund the crossings that are in TIF districts - basically the crossings on John Nolen. Her amendment passed unanimously.
The council recessed, and will reconvene to deal with the rest of the capital budget and all of the operating budget today (Wednesday) at 7pm. So there's still time to contact your alder and tell them what you think.... more to come soon!
Posted by prodane at 10:11 PM
Progressive Dane will be participating in a panel discussion on political parties in Wisconsin on Thursday November 17th at Edgewood College at 2:00 p.m. The panel will have representatives from different political parties to share their beliefs, platforms, goals, and if or how they think the American social and political climate should change. The parties involved include Progressive Dane, the Four Lakes Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, and the Constitution Party.
Edgewood College student Danielle Wilson is the main organizer of the event. She is a political science major who is working on her honors scholarship. Progressive Dane looks forward to participating in this forum and we hope to convey our message to members of other political parties. Perhaps we can even convert some of the people to our right and bring them to the party of the people.
This event is part of PD's strategy to expose ourselves to different segments of the community and is fresh off the heels of our recent appearance at the Rotary Club on the west side.
The event is targeted at students but the entire community is invited to participate. There will be literature available from the different political parties and steering committee member Yogesh Chawla will be representing PD. Come on down and hoot and holler and show your support for PD!
Posted by prodane at 09:12 PM
Progressive Dane welcomes all of our members and friends to celebrate another great year in progressive politics at our annual holiday event, The Snow Ball.
The Snow Ball is an event where we share a few drinks and some homemade food, listen to musical group Gypsy Caravan Swing, and meet other PD members and elected officials. This year's Snow Ball will be held on Friday, December 2 at the Cardinal Bar, located at 418 E. Wilson Street.
Progressive Dane is asking you to sponsor the Snow Ball. Suggested sponsorships for this event start at $25 or $50. You can sponsor online by clicking here. You can also send a Check to Progressive Dane at P.O. Box 1222, Madison, WI 53701.
We will also be honoring some of our members at the event with the Kathy Schroeder Memorial Award and other special awards for outstanding volunteerism with Progressive Dane and within our community.
Posted by prodane at 09:12 PM
Progressive Dane’s Economic Issues Taskforce (EITF) will hold a public meeting 6:00 pm on Thursday, November 10th, 2005 at the Villager Mall (2300 S. Park St.) to discuss the Task Force's list of proposed initiatives to support local small businesses. Please join us to talk about ways to make Madison and Dane County an even better place to do business.
This list was developed with input and support from area small business owners and workers and includes:
* Amending City Purchasing Policies to Favor Local Businesses: Each additional dollar that circulates locally boosts local economic activity, employment, and ultimately tax revenue.
* Increasing Micro-lending Opportunities: Support low-income workers who want to start a small business by increasing funding for existing microlending programs and creating new ones.
* Encouraging Small Businesses to Buy Their Store-fronts: Buying property protects businesses from rent increases, promotes stability, provides tax advantages and allows businesses to recover their investments should they relocate.
* Creating a Transportation Pool for Small Businesses: By allowing employers to buy bus passes at a discount similar to that which big employers are given, Madison can encourage use of the Metro system, increasing Metro’s revenue, and help smaller businesses provide an employee perk at a discounted rate.
Please come to the meeting and share your input!
Posted by prodane at 04:58 AM