Members of the Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs Committee took a step back from discussions on state government campaigns Tuesday to learn about the city and county budgets.
County Board Supervisor Leland Pan, District 5, and Ald. Zach Wood, District 8, detailed the current status of the 2016 fiscal county and city budgets, in an effort to gain student involvement in the process.
Wood explained both the county and city budgets are broken down into two areas: capital and operating. He said the capital budget focuses on the purchasing of objects, such as a new bus barn, and include services like hiring new bus drivers. The operating budget salaries and benefits of current city staff is included in the operating budget.
The fiscal 2016 city capital budget could potentially include the creation of a midtown police station to help the understaffed west side Madison Police Department station.
The city operating budget will allocate $100,000 to address issues of substance abuse and mental illness by organizing a team of social workers to talk with people in unstable housing situations, Wood said.
Pan said the county budget will include funds to aid homeless services, better nonprofit organizations and clean up lakes and highways.
A section of the county capital budget calls for either a renovation of the current county jail, or the construction of a new jail completely, which Pan said he does not want to happen during a time of high racial disparities.
“The county executive has been reshuffling to have a specific office on equity and inclusion to really put our priorities on issues of disparities, to make an entire office focused on those things,” Pan said.
Legislative Affairs Chair Carmen Gosey said she was glad members could understand issues at the county and city levels as well as state, and encouraged future student participation in budgetary topics.
Correction (11:15 a.m., 11/3/15): This story was updated to reflect that funds for hiring new bus drivers would come from the city capital budget rather than the operating budget as was written in a previous version of the story. The Daily Cardinal regrets this error.
