With just two weeks left before the Madison Common Council adopts the 2016 budget, the city’s Board of Estimates discussed a slew of amendments to Madison Mayor Paul Soglin’s executive operating budget Tuesday.
Soglin introduced his $289 million budget Oct. 6, which would increase taxes on the average home by 2.9 percent, a $66 increase from 2015.
Soglin expressed a desire to limit changes when introducing his budget to the council, though the committee took up 24 different amendments nearing $500,000 total.
One amendment, which proposed to expand contracts with Unidos Against Domestic Violence and Freedom Inc. for crisis support services, passed after a large turnout from members of both groups.
“It really means a lot because we can increase our staff to capacity so we can serve our community, which continues to grow and struggle,” said Veronica Lazo, executive director of Unidos, which serves Latino survivors of domestic assault through local services.
Under the new amendment, Unidos would receive $22,654 through 2017, while Freedom Inc. would receive $15,563.
Freedom Inc., which engages youth of color in Madison, criticized the city’s initial lack of funding for the nonprofits.
“The city cannot continue to deal with our agencies, especially culturally specific ones like ours and overlook the need for funding,” said Kabzuag Vaj, co-executive director of Freedom Inc. “We should not have to go to the state or federal level to ask for money. This is the city’s responsibility.”
The community services committee provided rankings of the different nonprofits that asked for an increase to their funding.
“I would love to give more to Unidos and Freedom Inc. personally, but I want to be respectful to the process,” said Ald. Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, District 5, whose community services committee ranked Unidos and Freedom Inc. as top priorities among other nonprofits.
