Over the next four posts, I am going to dig into the Madison budget with an eye towards the 2025 budget challenge - the looming $27M structural deficit. This budget challenge is not unexpected - it has been clear for nearly 15 years that there would be a year where the structural deficit overtakes the budget, and the only thing that is a bit surprising is COVID pushed it back a few years.
The 2025 budget is the most important issue facing the City of Madison at the moment. All of the other challenges we face - housing, equity, climate adaptation, public health and safety - how those will be addressed by the City Government in 2025 and beyond depend on how we as a City decide to handle the structural deficit in years to come.
The City’s Finance Department has been putting together an excellent “2025 Budget Outlook” website that I cannot say enough good things about. Over the past few months they’ve put out 4 deep-dives into the budget, held 2 briefings for the Common Council, and have hosted a series of meetings around the City along with the Common Council for community members to learn more about the budget process. City finance staff is doing an amazing job of helping educate Madison about the budget and I think once we get past our budget challenges, we’ll be better off as a city going forward with more people knowing more about how City government works.
If you haven’t seen the City’s site yet, you’ll want to check it out: https://www.cityofmadison.com/finance/budget/2025/outlook
This post will be updated with links to the new posts as they’re released.
Madison’s Budget Challenge, Part 1: The most important budget number is not actually in the budget.
Madison’s Budget Challenge Part 3: How the 2023 $31M budget surplus is actually bad news
Madison’s Budget Challenge, Part 4: We should do a City of Madison budget referendum. Here’s how.
I’m supporting Regina Vidaver for Dane County Executive and you should too! She’s a public health expert and has done big things on the Madison Common Council - CARES mental health response, the Building Energy Savings plan (which is a huge deal!) and Transportation Demand Management, among others. When I was on the Council with her she asked the best questions that always got at the heart of the issue, and I know she’ll be an excellent leader for Dane County!