City Council seeks modest final changes to mayor’s proposed budget

Among the 21 proposed amendments made public on Friday, Alds. Marsha Rummel and Barbara Harrington-McKinney are also seeking to eliminate a new, citywide public information officer position the mayor sought in her proposed operating budget and steer the $120,000 for it elsewhere.

Rhodes-Conway contends the position will improve the city’s capacity to inform and engage neighborhoods and communities, especially marginalized and hard-to-reach communities.

The city’s Finance Committee has already made changes to the mayor’s budget proposals, with the operating budget standing at $405.3 million and the capital budget at $273.3 million going into final deliberations.

The council will begin consideration of final changes on Tuesday evening and has also set a second and third night of deliberations for Wednesday and Thursday if needed.

As it makes final decisions, the council can only increase tax collections by a net $93,500 before hitting state-mandated levy limits, finance director David Schmiedicke said.

“The state heavily restricts the city’s ability to generate revenue, and that means we always have more needs and good ideas than we have funding to support,” Rhodes-Conway said Friday. “And so, again, the council will have to make hard choices about their top priorities, just like I did in my executive budget.”

In early October, Rhodes-Conway proposed a record $404.8 million operating budget for 2024 that sustains services and delivers pay raises, carries no bold initiatives, and warns of runaway future deficits.

The mayor’s operating budget, which delivers a staggered 6% pay raise for nonunion employees and a negotiated 3% increase for public safety employees, relies on a total $16.7 million in one-time revenues to balance the budget, including the last of local federal COVID-19 relief funds and $9.2 million from the city’s “rainy day fund.” The proposal has no furloughs or layoffs.

The Finance Committee considered changes and declined to fund the hiring of new staff to investigate tenant complaints and to fund tenant rights education in favor of adding public health staff to focus on infant mortality, along with other spending.

As amended, the operating budget increases spending by 6% to $405.3 million and raises tax collections by 4.7% to $286.5 million. City property taxes on the average home, now valued at $424,400, would increase by 3.8%, or $111.16, to $3,018.42.

In early September, Rhodes-Conway offered a $266.5 million capital budget for 2024 that fully funds a now $18.6 million “Imagination Center” at Reindahl Park, doubles the Affordable Housing Fund and continues to pour resources into the South Side.

Her proposal also delivers $11 million for the first phase of a $300 million redevelopment of the city’s piece of The Triangle public housing Downtown, provides $15.2 million for flood mitigation and $5.1 million to mitigate PFAS pollution at Well 15 on the Far East Side. It funds planning for the north-south segment of Bus Rapid Transit from Northport Avenue to Fitchburg next year.

The Finance Committee made changes, passing a $1 million amendment to fund design work for the John Nolen Drive underpass near North Shore Drive and Broom Street and other spending.

As amended, the $273.3 million capital proposal relies on $156 million in borrowing and $117.3 million from other sources, such as federal or state grants. Debt payments are projected to be 16.4% of the city’s operating budget next year, about the same as this year.

Major capital budget amendments, with main sponsors listed, include:

• Alds. Nikki Conklin, Derek Field and Jael Currie propose to add $300,000 to buy three vehicles to support the Community Alternative Response Emergency Services initiative in the Fire Department.
• Alds. Mike Verveer and Tag Evers are proposing another $250,000 in 2024 and $3.5 million in 2026 for design and construction of the John Nolen Drive underpass.
• Alds. William Tishler and Yannette Figueroa Cole are proposing to use $250,000 in private donations for water play features at Rennebohm Park.
• Alds. Charles Myadze and Amani Latimer Burris propose adding $2.58 million for the Warner Park Community Recreation Center expansion to cover rising construction costs and inflation.
• The mayor and Currie propose reducing the budget for the State Street Campus Garage replacement project by $10.2 million to reflect updated cost estimates based on bids. They also propose adding $2.5 million in parking supported borrowing to upgrade credit card reading equipment to meet industry standards.

Major operating budget amendments, with main sponsors listed, include:

• Alds. Nasra Wehelie and Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford are proposing to add $85,533 in salary and benefits for a full-time equal opportunities investigator position.
• Alds. Verveer and Isadore Knox would add $120,000 to the Monona Terrace budget to fund event management software, funded by additional facility rentals.
• Currie and Field are proposing to spend $91,200 for a full-time traffic engineering position and laptop to support and maintain a growing number of electronic information devices across the city.
• Alds. Marsha Rummel and Barbara Harrington-McKinney propose to eliminate the public information officer in the mayor’s office and direct the savings to fund the traffic engineering position and the general fund.

Rhodes-Conway declined to offer support for or opposition to any individual amendment, saying, “I look forward to the discussion and decisions next week.”