Madison warns of massive cuts without successful property tax referendum (2024)

The city is warning of a range of deep cuts to city services and staff — from closing the Goodman Pool to less road maintenance to the amount of water in public fountains — if residents don’t approve a referendum this November to increase their property taxes.

A Monday afternoon “Update on 2025 Budget Process“ from Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s office lists 74 specific cuts in 23 departments that could result from a failure to pass a $22 million referendum in November. Even with a successful referendum, the city would still need to find a way to trim its budget 1%, the mayor’s office said.

The stark budget picture comes as the city has largely spent down the $47.2 million it received in federal pandemic aid, the city’s operating budget has increased 22.1% and the capital budget by about 27.5% since 2019, and the cost of city employee wages and benefits has increased by 25.2% and 37.7%, respectively, since 2019.

The first half of Rhodes-Conway’s signature initiative, a Bus Rapid Transit system, is also expected to launch this fall, and while the federal government is picking up from 75% to 80% of the costs to build it, that still leaves the city on the hook for at least $70 million. City officials say the borrowing needed to cover that amount will not be significant, and the system will not cost more to operate than the traditional bus system it replaces.

Madison’s population has grown by 13.3% over the last five years, the city’s Finance Department reports, and the consumer price index, also known as inflation, is up 23% in that time.

City officials for years have blamed local budget problems on a Republican-controlled Legislature and former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who enacted changes to the state’s shared revenue system, which redistributes state tax revenues from wealthier municipalities to poorer ones.

A city analysis finds that Madison receives the smallest amount of shared revenue per capita, or $29, of any municipality in the state, and that “despite being a primary driver of the state economy and contributing over $1 billion dollars in state taxes, Madison residents get back less than 20% (18 cents) for every dollar they pay in state taxes.”

In response to such fiscal headwinds, city agencies have submitted 2025 budget proposals that include a 5% reduction in service and would eliminate 147 positions while continuing to leave 144 positions unfilled.

Potential cuts if a funding referendum is not passed include:

Voters are already sure to see two referendums from the Madison School District on the Nov. 5 ballot. They would raise annual property taxes $1,370 by 2028.