County Board Approves 2024 Dane County Budget

November 06, 2023
County Board Chair Patrick Miles, (608) 886-9167
County Board

At tonight’s Dane County Board of Supervisors meeting, the County Board approved the 2024 Dane County budget. “The budget as proposed by County Executive Parisi reflected many of the County Board’s priorities. The amendments to the budget push the Board’s priorities further, particularly regarding crisis care services, affordable housing, and the capacity to address the needs of youth and families,” said County Board Chair Patrick Miles (District 34).
 
The County Board had several amendments to the budget as proposed by County Executive Parisi some of which include:

•    An increase in wages for Point of Service agencies, including an additional 2.5% Point of Service COLA increase, bringing the total to 7.0%; 
•    An increase of $1.065 million to Journey Mental Health to allow wage increases among staff involved in the crisis response system;
•    $45,000 for the Madison Reading Project to increase reading resources for children in many Dane County communities;
•    An additional $217,500 in funding for supportive service for Fair Chance Housing projects;
•    A $10 million increase to the Affordable Housing Development fund;
•    A new capital housing fund of $8 million targeted for farmworker housing;
•    Funding for identifying the placement of culturally diverse markers;
•    Two positions to move the Regional Housing Strategy recommendations forward;
•    A $100,000 increase in funding for youth programming across Dane County youth centers;
•    A $50,000 increase for Public Health Madison Dane County to increase funding for the Saving Our Babies initiative, with funding provided to the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. 

The additional operating and capital amendments can be found on the agenda for tonight’s meeting: https://dane.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=A&ID=1127072&GUID=D01E7D84-FB38-46EA-9725-207AFDF14C52 

The annual budget process takes place each October and November and sets spending priorities for the following calendar year. The County Executive released his proposed budget on October 2, and County Board committees have spent the last several weeks hearing from the public and making amendments regarding staffing and funding levels. 

The operating budget totals $789,298,454. The capital budget is $179,216,700. The budget includes a levy increase of 13.6% driven primarily by increased debt service costs. Property taxes on the average Madison home will increase by $147.22.

The budget will now go on to County Executive Parisi for his signature.