2012 Dane County Budget

As I and other County Board Supervisors worked to finalize the Dane County budget we had to balance many factors – we had to account for unprecedented cuts from Governor Walker’s state budget coupled with uncertain sales tax revenues at the same time that many residents are seeing their incomes decrease. We strove to ensure this budget reflects “the Dane County way” of providing a safety net for the needy and security for those who live and visit the county. To me, doing things the Dane County way means maintaining Dane County as a place where people want to live, raise a family, educate their children and have unique natural resources preserved for future generations. It means providing services to those who are in crisis as well as funding programs that help keep people out of crisis situations. It means maintaining public safety as efficiently as possible, using appropriate technology and risk-based decision-making. It means cleaning up our lakes and keeping our roads plowed and well maintained.

Here’s more detail on parts of the County budget:

The County serves as the safety net for people in crisis. Human Services programs comprise 50% of the county budget, with various point of service agencies implement various programs. Some of the programs funded include:
• Preventative programs such as Joining Forces for Families, including funds for the Children’s Service Society, which can use that money to leverage additional federal funds.
• The Early Childhood Initiative, which helps hundreds of moms and dads find jobs to help support their families.
• Women in Transition case management, the Family Preservation Program, the Employment and Training Housing Initiative, the Foreclosure Prevention Program and partial funding for the Tenant Resource Center.
• Funding a new Mental Health Drop-in Clinic modeled after a small program that dispenses medications and has met with success in alleviating pressure on inpatient services. The new drop in clinic will include other mental health and addiction services for those who are currently not served, thereby reducing waiting lists.
• Adding a $250,000 contingency fund to protect the Human Services Department against unanticipated state or federal funding reductions
• Full funding for Youth Resource Centers, the Salvation Army’s Warming House and the Briarpatch program for runaway youths.
• Senior adult day care centers including the Colonial Club in Sun Prairie and Oregon Senior Center’s Adult Day Care program.

The County Jail, the 911 Center and the Sheriff’s Department are all included in the Public Safety budget. This budget includes funding to continue upgrades to the 911 center, continuing with the implementation of audit recommendations.

This budget incorporates a number of efficiencies from streamlining the criminal justice system and funds the Criminal Justice Council (comprised of the County Executive, the County Board Chair, the Sheriff, the District Attorney, the Chief Judge and the Clerk of Courts) to identify and implement future efficiencies. For example, 40% of all people booked into the Dane County jail are released within 24 hours – and the cost of booking is the largest cost associated with that 24 hour period. This budget includes a new risk assessment position at the jail to conduct this assessment before booking – thus eliminating booking costs for those deemed to be low risk. Another savings includes closing one floor of the Huber Center, and plans are underway to establish a day reporting center that will eventually lead to the closing of the Huber Center saving even more money in the long term.

The budget also caps overtime for the Sheriff’s Department at 6.6% of total salaries, anticipated to save the county over $300,000. Lastly, we included funds for the Sheriff to replace their records management system so that the Sheriff will be better able to manage various aspects of the Department in the future.

This budget includes several programs aimed at cleaning up the Yahara chain of lakes (including Lake Monona). Funding for Land and Water Resources positions were restored in this budget and funding for weed cutting was maintained.

The budget also included funding for a five-part initiative to protect and enhance the lakes, including:
1. An effort to remove carp and reduce sediment, focusing first on Cherokee Marsh and Mud Lake;
2. An additional $1.65 million for a program which cost-shares municipal improvements of storm drain outlets that dump untreated storm water and litter into county lakes, rivers, and streams;
3. A $3.4 million fund for acquisitions that improve the water quality of Yahara River lakes and their tributaries;
4. Initial funding to implement recommendations from the Yahara CLEAN initiative to reduce phosphorus, sediment loadings, and beach pollutants; and
5. A clean beach effort to partner with municipalities to address water quality at two beaches each year.

To offset cuts from the state to the transportation budget, we are planning on using trained parks staff to help keep the roads open in the winter. While they won’t be able to help with road maintenance in the summer, at least there should be adequate staff during winter storms. This is another example of how our county employees are willing to work with us to solve our budget problems.

To begin upgrades at the Alliant Energy Center, the County Board included a budget amendment for a feasibility study to increase animal housing capacity for the World Dairy Expo during the annual event. We anticipate that this will help jump-start additional public/private efforts to keep World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin, which contributes an estimated $18.7 million to Dane County’s economy.

In summary, 15.5 County positions were eliminated in this budget. The 2012 budget, as approved by the County Board, will result in an increase of $28.24 in county taxes on an average Madison home of $239,239. Taxes to support county government services, including the Sheriff’s Office and the jail, human services for children, the disabled, and the elderly, emergency radio interoperability, and county roads and bridges, will total about $687 for the average homeowner in 2012.