Wednesday, November 28, 2012

2013 Budget Highlights

As your County Board Supervisor, I spend the end of summer and most of fall participating in numerous meetings and discussions on the Dane County budget.  The following is a brief summary of the 2013 budget.  Many people testified before the County on their priorities and concerns, and I think the budget is a positive reflection of the needs of the County and the county priorities. 

The overall Dane County budget is approximately $525 million, of which more than half is dedicated to human services needs and another quarter dedicated to public safety needs.  The budget also includes provisions that give the county a strong reserve fund of approximately $12 million should another economic downturn occur. 
With respect to the Human Services programs, the county board approved a number of initiatives directed at the homeless, including funding for a temporary winter daytime shelter for the winter of 2012-13 and funding for a permanent daytime shelter for the fall of 2013.  In addition, the budget includes funding towards Single Room Occupancy (SRO) housing as a permanent solution to homelessness and funding to keep homeless youth off the streets, replacing federal grant dollars that ceased. 

The county budget also includes funding for our youth in the form of an Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program with expansion to Sun Prairie, funding to help expand the “Birth to four year old kindergarten” to Leopold School (South Madison / Fitchburg), three additional child protective services positions and a new juvenile delinquency social worker. 
Recognizing and honoring our veterans was also a priority for the county board, and to that the budget increases emergency aid to address homelessness,  provides access to bus passes and improves access to services by streamlining access to benefits and updating technology.   We also included funding for the DAIS housing vouchers for those fleeing domestic violence and reduced the waitlist for developmental disabilities support .  Locally, we were able to help the East Madison and Monona Coalition for the Aging so they can continue their valuable service to our community.

To support our public safety mission, we added funding for four additional drug court slots and expanded it to ensure racial diversity within drug court, we expanded the restorative justice programs to 3 middle schools to keep youth out of criminal justice system, expanded the Alcohol and Other Drug Additions (AODA) programs and updated the Sheriff’s Departments squad car video cameras. 
Other economic and community program support came in the form of funding for Partners for Recreation and Conservation (PARC) grants for municipalities and organizations to improve infrastructure and public spaces for recreation,  funding for BUILD grants which help communities and businesses by fostering job and economic development  and are supporting municipalities throughout the county by providing matching funds for new voter machines throughout the county. 

As a member of the Alliant Energy Center Commission, the Task force for the Expansion of the Aliant Energy Center and as Chair of the Public Works Committee, I am very proud of the support this budget brings to enhance the Alliant Energy Center and move it forward as an economic driver for the area.  To that end, the budget includes funding that will be combined with State and other private partner funding for an expanded animal barn, and funding for improvements to the Coliseum to allow for more intimate concert venues.  Lastly, the budget includes funding (along with funding from the City of Madison and the Greater Madison Visitor and Convention Bureau) to conduct a “visioning” for the future of the AEC.
Lastly, the County budget maintains critical funding for continued environmental improvements, such as efforts to remove carp as part of the County Board’s “Clear Lakes” initiative, adds funding to expand the county fleet that is fueled from Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) generated at our landfill, provides funding for county programs to become more sustainable. 

I’m proud of the balance that this budget brings and the priorities that are maintained in the County.