With 43 states facing budget shortfalls and deficit spending at the federal level, government spending at many levels is undergoing closer examination. To this end, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz held a community budget hearing Thursday night at the Madison Civic Center, 211 State St.
As a preemptive move to creating his own budget, Cieslewicz sought public input on priorities and offered his own, which he described as maintaining basic police and fire services, involvement in challenged neighborhoods and looking at the impact of decisions down the road while keeping a reasonable tax rate.
The state's cuts in shared revenue to Wisconsin cities, approved by the Legislature and Gov. Jim Doyle this summer, are responsible for a shortfall of $2.2 million in the Madison. Shared revenue makes up a smaller part of the city's budget than other Wisconsin cities, Cieslewicz explained, as a result of comparative property value and tax revenue.
\We're faced with striking a balance between service cuts and tax levy increases,"" Cieslewicz said, lightening the mood with good-natured jokes about long last names interspersed between impassioned speeches in defense of city-funded organizations.
He kept his own comments brief, however, in deference to citizens who came to speak.
Representatives from Madison-based clinic Rainbow Project linked funding received from the city budget to accomplishing its child and family counseling, particularly in cases of domestic abuse.
""These are devastating cuts,"" said Rainbow Project's director Cheryl Cato, referring to the mayor's request that organizations find ways to cut 2 percent from their city funds. Others asked for increases in their budget.
Alyssa Kenney, program director for the Vera Court Neighborhood Center, brought two students from Blackhawk Middle School who receive after-school tutoring at the center.
""He has come every day for three years. ... I won't say what his grade point average was before,"" she said of student Darius Green, who Kenney said was shy about addressing the mayor. ""But he got a 3.0.""
Many speakers praised the mayor for the chance to air their concerns before the budget's Oct. 7 introduction to the city council.
""I'm reviewing staff recommendations and there are some difficult choices ahead,"" Cieslewicz said. ""There is no line that says waste, fraud and inefficiency.""
